To help food pantries prepare for a rise in demand during the holiday season due to COVID-19, Restore – Stop & Shop’s reduced-emissions fuel program – has announced a donation of $10,000 grants to each of five hunger-relief organizations. The donation will support those facing food insecurity across the communities that Restore serves in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Additionally, the Restore Program will calculate and offset each organization’s operational carbon emissions, making them carbon neutral.
According to Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization, the coronavirus-related economic crisis could push the number of food insecure Americans to 54 million by the end of 2020. As the holiday season approaches, $10,000 grants to each of the following local organizations will help the many individuals and families that will continued to be burdened by hunger:
- Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen Inc., New Haven, Connecticut;
- Waste Not Want Not Community Kitchen, Granby, Connecticut;
- The Family Pantry of Cape Cod, Harwich, Massachusetts;
- The Greater Fall River Community Food Pantry, Fall River, Massachusetts; and
- Federal Hill House, Providence, Rhode Island.
“While the Restore program traditionally focuses on reducing the carbon footprint of our fuel customers, during this time of increased need we expanded the program’s focus to help local hunger-relief organizations support the rising number of people who are facing food insecurity as a result of the pandemic,” said Jennifer Brogan, director of community relations for Stop & Shop. “The grants will provide additional assistance to local food pantries, which play such a critical role in feeding those in need, especially during the holiday season. The donation also includes calculating and offsetting the operational emissions of the organizations making them carbon neutral.”
With Restore, every time an individual fills up at a Stop & Shop fuel location, the Restore reduced emissions program offsets those tailpipe emissions through investments in certified environmental projects, creating a positive impact locally and around the world. To learn more about Stop & Shop’s dedication to giving back, visit stopandshop.com.
Stop & Shop’s Restore reduced emissions program was launched on Sept. 23, 2019, and is currently live in all 105 Stop & Shop fuel locations. To date the program has offset more than 102 million gallons of fuel, offsetting 51,000 metric tons of carbon and has planted more than 25,000 trees in partnership with Arbor Day Foundation.
