Stop & Shop’s 32nd Annual Food for Friends Campaign Raises More than $1.2 Million for Hunger Relief

Today Stop & Shop, together with Unilever’s Knorr® brand, announced that its 32nd annual Food for Friends campaign raised more than $1.2 million for its 12 regional food bank partners to combat summer hunger in the communities it serves.

Summer can be the hungriest time of year for kids and Stop & Shop recognizes the importance of raising awareness around childhood hunger during this time of year. While families are able to rely on free or reduced-priced meals for children during the school, when school is out and children are at home, families have to buy more food, resulting in a rise in child hunger. According to Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger relief network, 22 million kids across the United States rely on school meals. When schools close for the summer, school meal programs often close, too.

Stop & Shop’s annual Food for Friends donation campaign is tackling summer hunger this year by allowing customers at the grocer’s 400+ stores throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey to donate at checkout to support food insecure families across the Northeast, with 100 percent of donations going directly to Stop & Shop’s 12 regional food bank partners.

“This month-long campaign serves to renew hope for so many families that are currently struggling allowing kids can enjoy a fun and healthy summer of play and time outdoors rather than worrying about where their next meal will come from,” said Gordon Reid, President of Stop & Shop. “This program also shows the value of communities coming together to support one another and Stop & Shop’s steadfast commitment to helping our food bank partners provide nutritious food to families in need.”

Throughout the month of June, customers who shopped in stores were asked if they would like to round up their total to the nearest dollar or donate an additional $1, $3 or $5 and Stop & Shop donated 100 percent of the funds raised to regional food banks across its footprint. Knorr also donated $10,000 and 5,000 rice and pasta sides to Feeding Westchester as part of their annual support of this campaign.

“Unilever’s Knorr brand believes that wholesome, nutritious food should be accessible and affordable to all,” said Christina DiPietro, Unilever Team Lead. “We are proud to be Stop & Shop’s first manufacturer partner for their annual Food for Friend’s campaign helping to raise more than $1 million to benefit local food banks helping to fight food insecurity in our communities.”

Funds raised during Stop & Shop’s Food for Friends campaign will benefit the following food banks:

• The Greater Boston Food Bank
• Worcester County Food Bank
• The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts
• Rhode Island Community Food Bank
• Connecticut Foodshare
• Feeding Westchester
• Food Bank of the Hudson Valley
• Food Bank for New York City
• Community Foodbank of New Jersey
• Fulfill
• Island Harvest
• Long Island Cares

For more information on Stop & Shop’s programs to support local communities, click here.