Stop & Shop Donates $20,000 to help Integration Charter Schools

In-School Food Pantry Will Support Students Attending Any of the Four Integration Charter Schools

Stop & Shop has donated $20,000 in gift cards to Integration Charter Schools (ICS), located at 1441 South Ave in Staten Island, to help open their in-school food pantry to meet the needs of their 1,700 students at their four schools, Lavelle Preparatory Charter School, Richmond Preparatory Charter School, the Early College Charter School, and New Ventures Charter School.

Integration Charter Schools includes four charters with a total of 1,700 students. Lavelle Preparatory Charter School is from grades K-12 and offers an elementary, middle, and high school program, all in one place. Richmond Preparatory Charter School made its mark on Staten Island by offering an accelerated, hands-on computer science program for students in grades 6-12. The Early College Charter School is for grades 8-12 and is Staten Island's first true early college high school which partners with the College of Staten Island and Monroe College to offer students the opportunity to earn tuition-free college credits while earning their high school diploma. New Ventures Charter School is for students ages 16-21 and is a top performing transfer charter high school in New York State.

Over 80% of the 1,700 students who attend one of the four Integration Charter Schools qualify for free and reduced lunches. Many of the students live in temporary housing in North Shore or Stapleton and travel nearly an hour to attend one of the four schools.

"On behalf of the ICS community, we are deeply grateful for the partnership with Stop and Shop in establishing this vital food pantry,” said Sean Harrell, President and CEO of Integration Charter Schools. “Together, we are empowering our communities to thrive by ensuring that every family has access to nutritious meals. This initiative exemplifies the power of collaboration in addressing food insecurity, and I am confident that it will make a meaningful difference in the lives of our children and families, ensuring that no one goes to bed hungry."

Beneficiaries of the food pantry can pick up groceries daily, and once every two weeks the pantry will hold a product distribution to support 100 families. The items that the pantry provides are cups of noodles, juice, cereal, granola bars, fruit cups, pasta, canned vegetables, beans, rice, condiments, deodorant, toothpaste, shampoo, and body wash.

The Stop & Shop School Food Pantry Program was established to help limit barriers impacting students’ ability to succeed in the classroom by making sure that they have consistent access to food. Stop & Shop supports local schools’ existing food pantries or helps them establish a new one by providing gift card donations to help stock their shelves.

“Stop and Shop’s main charitable effort is to eradicate hunger, and we believe that no child or student at any level should go to class hungry,” said Tarik Stewart, Regional Vice President of Operations for Stop & Shop. “We are proud to support the launch of the Integration Charter Schools’ In-School Food Pantry, so it may ensure their students have access to the food they need to help them succeed in the classroom and reach their full potential.”

Stop & Shop currently supports more than 200 School Food Pantries across its five-state footprint. Across the city, there are 48 total school pantries, 15 in Queens, 13 in the Bronx, 14 in Brooklyn, 4 in Staten Island, 2 in Manhattan, and several more to open across the boroughs in 2024. For more information about Stop & Shop’s School Food Pantry program, visit https://stopandshop.com/pages/school-food-pantry-program.