Stop & Shop Raises Nearly $400K for ‘Friends’

Customers and associates of the Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. LLC helped fight hunger in their communities by donating almost $400,000 through the grocery chain’s inaugural “Healthy Ideas Food for Friends” program. Stop & Shop, a division of Ahold USA, will donate all funds to regional hunger relief agencies across its Northeast market area.

“Healthy Ideas Food for Friends was designed to bring relief during a time when many are not thinking about hunger,” noted Joe Kelley, president of Stop & Shop’s New England division in Quincy, Mass. “This program will make a difference in thousands of lives, bringing healthy and more nutritious meals to those in need.”

During the store-wide initiative, which ran from Aug. 3 through Aug. 26, shoppers made in-store donations of $1, $3 or $5 at checkout. Customers could also purchase a $10 charity box filled with Healthy Ideas Stop & Shop brand items.

Sixty percent of the funds raised, approximately $239,200, will go to hundreds of local hunger relief agencies adopted by each store, while the other 40 percent -- around $159,400 -- will go to seven regional food banks: The Greater Boston Food Bank ($65,200), Foodshare ($27,100), Rhode Island Community Food Bank ($22,400), Connecticut Food Bank ($18,000), Food Bank of Western Mass. ($13,400), Worcester County Food Bank ($10,700) and New Hampshire Food Bank ($2,600).

The top three fundraising Stop & Shop locations were 91 Point Judith Road, Narragansett, R.I. ($11,100); 10 Bates Road, Mashpee, Mass. ($5,300); and 125 Highland Avenue, Seekonk, Mass. ($5,100).

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.