Stop & Shop Raises Almost $2M via ‘Food for Friends’

Stop & Shop customers and partners donated nearly $2 million through the Ahold USA division’s 22nd annual Food for Friends program. The grocery chain will donate 100 percent of the funds to Northeast regional food banks and pantries as part of its hunger relief efforts.

Running from Oct. 28 through Dec. 11, 2011, the effort consisted of the following elements:

• Shoppers could contribute through in-store donations of $1, $3 or $5 at checkout.
• "Charity boxes” filled with Stop & Shop Own Brands products were sold in New England-area stores, with proceeds donated to the program and boxes given directly to a local food pantry adopted by each store.
• "Trimmings bags” of Stop & Shop Own Brands items were sold in New York metropolitan area-stores, with proceeds donated to the program and bags given directly to Island Harvest, a Long Island food bank.
• Several food and beverage manufacturers contributed donations.
• Stop & Shop contributed a company match of $500 per store.

Altogether, the program raised about $2 million, all of which went to battle hunger in local communities. Sixty percent goes to an area hunger relief agency or food pantry adopted by each store, while 40 percent is donated to regional food banks.

“Food for Friends is an easy way for communities to come together and give food security to those who wouldn’t otherwise have it,” explained Mark McGowan, president of Stop & Shop’s New England division In Quincy, Mass. “We [helped] provide more than 15 million meals to families across the Northeast this winter.”

Hundreds of hunger relief agencies and pantries across the Northeast benefited from the donation, including 14 regional food banks.

Additionally, this past holiday season, Stop & Shop gave about 20,000 Thanksgiving turkeys to regional food banks and local pantries across the Northeast through its “Turkey Express” program and supported hunger relief efforts through the Stop & Shop/Giant Family Foundation.

The Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. LLC employs about 62,000 associates and operates more than 400 stores in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New York, and New Jersey.