Stop & Shop Donates $190K To Long Island Cares

GLEN COVE, NY — Stop & Shop donated $190,000 to Long Island Cares on Thursday, the food bank announced.

Most of the funding — $125K — is earmarked for Long Island Cares's Kids Cafe program. Kids Cafe feeds children at 17 locations after school with nutritious foods. Boys & Girls Clubs, community centers, churches, schools and other locations are the recipients.

The donation is part of a larger $2.4 million donation from Stop & Shop to eight Feeding America food banks across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut to support programs that fight against food insecurity.

"We’re extremely grateful for the continued support that Long Island Cares has received from our corporate partners at Stop & Shop," Paule Pachter, president and CEO of the Hauppauge-based food bank and humanitarian organization, told Patch. "This very generous grant will allow us to continue providing meals for hundreds of children who are at risk for food insecurity and attending our Kids Cafe after-school programs. Responding to the issue of hunger and food insecurity has always been a priority for Stop & Shop and we appreciate the opportunity to collaborate with them as part of our focus on children’s nutrition services."

Some school districts are in communities that are considered poor, according to Long Island Cares. Most, if not all, of the school kids receive free or reduced-price government-funded lunches.

"Kids Cafe is an incredibly impactful program for the children who attend," said Kerry Tooker, who runs Kids Cafe. "Each child receives homework help, encouraging them to achieve academic success, and recreation which promotes overall health, all in addition to receiving nutritious meals and nutrition education. We know that a hungry child cannot learn, but what we recognize as well is that a child living undernourished fights the same battle. Kids Cafes provide the proper nutrition for school age children and teaches them how to choose healthy foods that will promote fitness for both mind and body."

Stop & Shop's donation came from a combination of its in-store "Food for Friends" campaign, which ran from May 5 to June 4, and the Stop & Shop Family Foundation. More than $65,000 was raised through "Food for Friends" and $125,000 was awarded from the Stop & Shop Family Foundation to Long Island Cares for the 2023-24 school year in support of Kids Cafe.

Over its 20-year partnership with Long Island Cares, the Stop & Shop Foundation and Stop & Shop
stores have provided more than $3 million in monetary and food donations. All donations to Long
Island Cares support efforts to feed the 68,000 Long Island children suffering from food insecurity.

"We are proud to donate more than $190,000 to Long Island Cares to combat hunger and support the expansion, transition and sustainability of their Kids Cafe after-school program," Stop & Shop’s Regional Vice President Tarik Stewart said in a news release. "Within Long Island, 68,000 children are food insecure, and kids cannot reach their full potential if they are hungry and do not know when or where their next meal will come. The Long Island Cares’ Kids Cafe after-school program does a wonderful job supplying free meals to hungry children at safe after-school community locations, while also providing educational, recreational and social activities under the supervision of a trustworthy staff. We are honored to support Long Island Cares in their effort to eradicate hunger and help our Long Island neighbors in need."

Patch has partnered with Feeding America since 2020 to help raise awareness in our local communities of hunger, a persistent national problem exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Feeding America, which supports 200 food banks and 60,000 local meals programs across the country, estimates that nearly 34 million people, including 9 million children — about 1 in 6 Americans — are living with food insecurity. This is a Patch social good project; Feeding America receives 100 percent of donations. Find out how you can donate in your community or find a food pantry near you.