Stop & Shop Gives Back $22M-plus
For the Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. LLC, 2011 was a benchmark year of commitment to alleviating hunger, backing health-and-wellness initiatives for children and others, and forging partnerships to help local communities. In total, the Ahold USA banner’s New England and New York metro divisions and its customers were able to return more than $22 million in 2011 to the many communities in which its stores operate.
“The need is great everywhere -- from providing meals to those who are going hungry or ensuring our kids grow to be healthy, productive adults,” noted Mark McGowan, president, Stop & Shop New England division. “With the power of all of us coming together, we were able to make a real impact and truly help change lives last year.”
Over the course of the year, Stop & Shop donated more than $10 million toward hunger relief, which translated to hundreds of thousands of pounds of food, the equivalent of more than 80 million meals, according to Chicago-based anti-hunger organization Feeding America. This was accomplished through ongoing customer product, store and warehouse product donations to local food pantries and regional food banks; the 22nd annual “Food for Friends” campaign, which enabled customers to give checkout donations of $1, $3 or $5, as well as purchase and donate “charity boxes” or “trimmings bags” filled with Stop & Shop Own Brands items; and the “Turkey Express” program, which delivered 20,000 turkeys to 15 local organizations to help provide thousands of holiday meals.
“Stop & Shop believes in a philosophy of giving back locally,” explained Don Sussman, president, Stop & Shop New York metro division. “We know we can make the greatest impact on our communities by supporting causes that are important to our customers right in their own neighborhoods. Stop & Shop remains committed to helping alleviate hunger, support health and wellness, and create new partnerships to support and strengthen the communities we serve,”
As well as hunger relief, Stop & Shop donated about $12 million to community organizations throughout the Northeast, via such programs as the 21st annual "Triple Winner" game, which raised $2.5 million for the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and $1.5 million for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, and a partnership with Procter & Gamble, General Mills and other participating vendors during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month to aid such entities as the American Cancer Society. Additional substantial donations went to United Way, local schools, various YMCA chapters, the American Red Cross and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).
Stop & Shop employs about 62,000 associates and operates more than 400 stores in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New York, and New Jersey.