Stop & Shop/Giant Joins Family Day Observation

QUINCY, Mass. -- Stop & Shop and Giant Food are teaming up with the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at New York's Columbia University to mark the sixth annual Family Day-A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children, on Sept. 25.

Begun by CASA in 2001, Family Day is a national effort to prevent substance abuse in kids and teens by encouraging parental engagement and increased parent-child communication through the act of having dinner together frequently. According to CASA research, children who regularly eat dinner with their families are less likely to smoke, drink, or abuse drugs.

Other benefits to frequent family dinners include teens more likely to do well in school and less likely to have sex at young ages, get into fights, or be suspended from school, added the center, which observed that this pattern holds true regardless of a teen's gender, family structure, or family socioeconomic level.

"Family mealtime is a comforting ritual for young children and an opportunity to reconnect with teens," said Stop & Shop/Giant consumer advisor Andrea Astrachan in a statement. "And the important research by CASA confirms that there are long-term health benefits for children as well."

Stop & Shop/Giant are celebrating the occasion by making it easier for their shoppers to take part in it. "With today's hectic schedules, gathering the family together can be a challenge," admitted Astrachan. "However, Stop & Shop and Giant are helping moms and families by providing quick, tasty and easy-to-fix recipes in the sales circular every week."

The recipes can also be found in Stop & Shop and Giant's new free booklet, "Healthy Family Eating: There's No Place Like Home!" Available at all Stop & Shop/Giant stores, the 12-page brochure offers ways to get the family to share more meals, in addition to simple and nutritious eating suggestions for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Information can also be found on the Stop & Shop and Giant Food Web sites.

The Ahold banners have also involved their associates by urging them to observe Family Day with their own families and holding in a contest in which employees will share their experiences of the event.

More information on Family Day is available at ww.CASAFamilyDay.org.

The Stop & Shop/Giant Food arena employs more than 83,000 associates and operates 560 stores throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, and the District of Columbia.
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