Granby Stop & Shop and Customers Raise More Than $3,200 through Food for Friends Program

and its customers in the Granby area helped raise more than $3,200 for the Farmington Valley VNA through the company’s 22nd annual Food for Friends program.

In total, Stop & Shop is donating 100 percent of the nearly $2 million raised across the Northeast to regional food banks and local pantries as part of its hunger relief efforts.

The program ran Oct. 28 and ran through Dec. 11, 2011 at the Stop & Shop store located at 120 Salmon Brook Street. The program was comprised of several different elements:

•    Customers could contribute through in-store donations of $1, $3 or $5 at checkout registers.

•    “Charity boxes” filled with Stop & Shop Own Brands items were sold in New England area stores. Proceeds were donated to the program and the boxes were donated directly to a local food pantry each store adopts.

•    Several food and beverage manufacturers contributed donations.

•    Stop & Shop contributed a company match of $500 per store.
In total, the program raised approximately $2 million, all of which will be used to fight hunger in local communities. Sixty percent is donated to a local hunger relief agency or food pantry each store adopts; forty percent is donated to regional food banks.

“Food for Friends is an easy way for the Granby community to come together and give food security to those who wouldn’t otherwise have it,” said Edward Antos, store manager of the Granby Stop & Shop. “We are proud to have partnered with our customers and help provide meals to local families this winter.”

In total, hundreds of hunger relief agencies across the Northeast benefited from the donation, including seven regional food banks in New England:

•    The Greater Boston Food Bank

•    Connecticut Food Bank • Foodshare

•    Rhode Island Community Food Bank

•    Worcester County Food Bank

•    Food Bank of Western Mass.

•    New Hampshire Food Bank

This past holiday season, Stop & Shop also gifted approximately 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.

To learn more about Stop & Shop’s hunger relief efforts visit www.stopandshop.com.