Stop & Shop's 'Turkey Express' Rides Again

Through Thanksgiving, the Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. will donate 20,000 turkeys, through its annual Turkey Express initiative, which this year will help feed almost 200,000 people through area hunger relief organizations across the Northeast. The program is one of several of the Quincy, Mass.-based company’s initiatives to help eradicate hunger in the region.

The donation comes in the wake National Turkey Federation reports of skyrocketing turkey prices and the launch of holiday meal drives in which some local food banks are aiming to amass more than 350,000 pounds of food to helps local families. Stop & Shop's turkeys will enable the Greater Boston Food Bank to meet its annual turkey goal of more than 40,000 turkeys collected.

The initiative began with the delivery of more than 2,000 turkeys to food banks in Providence, R.I., and Worcester, Mass. Organizations receiving turkeys this year include the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, Worcester County Food Bank, Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, The Greater Boston Food Bank, YMCA of East Boston, New Hampshire Food Bank and the Pawtucket Boys & Girls Club.

The grocery chain is also inviting shoppers to help raise money for local food banks by taking part in its 21st annual “Food for Friends” program, which runs through Dec. 10.

A division of Ahold USA, Stop & Shop employs more than 59,000 associates and operates stores in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New York and New Jersey.