Stop and Shop- Always willing to lend a Helping Hand

"If there' is one thing we want our customers to know, it is that although we are a large corporation, we care deeply about the wellbeing of our local community and do our best to give back and help in any way we can".

Stop & Shop Supermarket on Broad Street in Manchester has been a pioneer in the community, encouraging people to donate locally to the MACC Charities Community Food Pantry. For the past ten years they have not only donated monetarily, through their "Food For Friends" campaign but have also participated in the food rescue program and taken part in several large food drives and supported many community events.

For the past eight years, Stop & Shop has hosted Manchester's Emergency of Hunger Food Drive, a friendly multi- town, food drive competition. This food drive involves ASM (Ambulance Service of Manchester), Police Explorers, Firefighters, Healthcare Providers, Rotary Club members and other MACC staff and volunteers, who gather during the two weekends before Thanksgiving at Stop & Shop and collect non perishable items as well as turkeys, and other proteins. In 2015, they collected 8,230 food and personal care items, $4,215.91 in
cash, checks, and gift cards, and 348 turkeys for the MACC Community Food Pantry which is needed to feed hundreds of families during the holiday season.

Stop & Shop also hosts many other food drives throughout the year for MACC including Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, school groups, and church groups including the Souper Bowl of Caring food drive for Full Gospel Interdenominational Church which this year collected 2,300 food items for the food pantry.

"Every time I speak with Dave Skoglund, Store Manager at The Manchester Stop &Shop, he is always looking for ways to help out The MACC Community Food Pantry and wants to ensure that we have the product we need", states Meaghan Sprague, Community Engagement Manager for MACC. "Recently I put up a post on our MACC Facebook page because we were in need of baby food and within a few hours I had an email in my box from Stop & Shop asking what we needed and then the manager suggested the product we needed could be highlighted at the registers to make it easy for people to donate the baby food to MACC".

When MACC rolled out its new and improved Food Rescue program back in October 2015, Stop & Shop was eager to get involved in this way. The food rescue program is based on the principal that people should not waste food; they should donate the good quality food that they cannot sell because maybe it's a day past the "sell by" date to a local food pantry or soup kitchen. The program is beneficial to both groups involved because large stores are not filing their dumpsters with food they cannot sell and food pantries are receiving a wider range of fresher, healthier, and more wholesome food to provide to their clients. Currently Stop & Shop allows MACC volunteers to pick up items daily from three different departments. "Not only are they generous but they also make the food rescue process extremely pleasant for us" states Kathy Blackwell, a MACC Food Runner.

Stop & Shop Corporate continues to raise the bar for their company by encouraging managers to give back to the community they serve. Recently Dave contacted MACC about doing a summer food drive at Crusin' on Main, which is the largest car show of its kind in New England and has the potential to bring 30,000 people to Main Street in Manchester. Stop & Shop hopes to set up a booth where they will collect food and monetary donations from the Cruisin' on Main attendeesto benefit the MACC Community Food Pantry. Knowing Dave and his team, we are confident that they will succeed!