Stop & Shop will mark a milestone during this year’s School Food Pantry Campaign: its 300th school pantry partner, a measure of how far the grocer’s signature hunger program has scaled since 2019, and the anchor of a week that finds grocers nationwide deep in Hunger Action Month and Hispanic Heritage Month giving.
The eight-week register campaign, running through Oct. 30, lets customers round up purchases or donate $1, $3 or $5 at checkout, with 100 percent of donations supporting school pantries throughout Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. The program partners with schools from pre-K through college to establish pantries directly on campus, giving students and families access to nutritious food in a stigma-free environment, and today supports more than 290 schools serving more than 50,000 students and families each month. The need remains stark: one in five U.S. children faces hunger, according to the USDA, and child food insecurity reaches as high as 43 percent in some communities in the grocer’s footprint.
“At Stop & Shop, we know that food insecurity can impact every aspect of a student’s life, from their ability to focus in the classroom to their overall health and wellbeing,” said Roger Wheeler, president. “Our School Food Pantry Program is about much more than providing food. It’s about creating opportunities for students and families to help them thrive and succeed.”
This year’s campaign introduces five ambassadors whose stories show the program at work. Jariel, the oldest of five siblings at Hartford, Connecticut’s Weaver High School, brings home pantry staples every Friday to help his mother, who lives with lupus, feed the family. “I want people to know they’re making a big impact, and it’s more than they probably realize,” he said. “My grandfather always told me that a dollar can go a long way.”
Fellow ambassador Julia, raised by a single father and now a mother herself, credits her community college’s campus pantry with helping her finish her degree; she plans to become a dietitian. Vendor partners including The Campbell’s Company, Flowers Foods’ Dave’s Killer Bread, General Mills’ Cheerios and The Coca-Cola Company’s smartwater help keep the pantries stocked.
Other grocers also are holding Hunger Action Month campaigns, with the new school year sharpening the focus on student food security.
Here’s a look at more grocers’ recent efforts touching hunger and other priorities.
Meijer
Meijer is marking Hunger Action Month by spotlighting a year of hunger relief work: its Simply Give program, which converts $10 checkout donations into food-only gift cards for nearly 600 local pantry partners and has generated more than $100 million and 940 million meals since 2008; its first-ever Hunger Relief Hero Awards, honoring 18 volunteers chosen from nearly 400 nominations; the 12th Meijer LPGA Classic, which raised $1.5 million for Simply Give; semi-truck loads of essentials donated for Midwest tornado and storm relief; and its July move to become the first Michigan retailer accepting WIC benefits for online and app-based grocery purchases, serving a state where approximately 190,000 women, infants and children receive the benefits annually.
Tops
Tops Friendly Markets is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with 11 vendor partners by supporting four Hispanic community organizations spanning its New York footprint: the Spanish Action League of Onondaga County, Circulo Latino of the United Way of Greater Rochester and the Finger Lakes, the Hispanic Heritage Council of Western New York and Latinos Unidos of the Hudson Valley, with check presentations and product donations beginning Sept. 29 in Buffalo.
The grocer also hosts its second annual Audrey Hamernik Community Food Drive on Sept. 19, when volunteers from schools, fire departments and scout troops will collect donations at three Depew stores for three local pantries.
“With the support of our vendor partners, we are excited to give back to our community through organizations that serve the Hispanic community daily,” said Kathy Sautter, director of corporate communications and public relations for Tops.
Schnucks
Schnucks has activated Round Up at the Register for its 2026 United Way campaign, running through Sept. 29, with customers able to round up at traditional checkout, choose $1, $3 or $5 Scan and Give options at self-checkout or donate their rewards points. All round-ups stay in the community where they were donated; last year’s company campaign raised more than $2.1 million, including more than $108,000 from the register program.
“When our customers join this effort by generously rounding up a few cents at a time, they directly strengthen the very communities in which they reside,” said Todd Schnuck, chairman and CEO.
Food Lion
The Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation awarded a $20,000 Summers Without Hunger grant to Boys & Girls Clubs of Frederick County, Maryland, which serves healthy snacks and meals daily to more than 280 youth annually.
“We are not only addressing food insecurity in the present but are encouraging them to make a lifelong commitment to good nutrition and healthy habits,” said Timika Thrasher, CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs organization.
Hannaford
Hannaford Supermarkets joined nonprofit Can’d Aid and frozen yogurt brand Yasso to build and donate more than 100 bikes and helmets to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine, with associates assembling the bikes at the grocer’s Scarborough headquarters and the Bicycle Coalition of Maine providing fittings and safety education. The donation is part of Can’d Aid and Yasso’s fourth annual effort to give more than 1,000 bikes to underserved youth nationwide this year. “We’re proud to work alongside Can’d Aid, Yasso, Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine and the Bicycle Coalition of Maine to help kids experience the joy of biking,” said Todd Bullen, VP of operations at Hannaford, who serves on the clubs’ board.
Kroger
Kroger‘s Central Division sent associates to the Illinois State University Horticulture Center in Normal, Illinois, where they planted nearly 20 trees and 10 shrubs, including seven fruit trees, in partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation, an effort the division framed as the sustainability side of its Zero Hunger | Zero Waste initiative. “It is important for them to recognize that our support goes beyond our daily donations of food by helping the environment as well,” said Tim Chacon, Kroger’s district manager for central Illinois.
Related: Grocers Give Back: Retailers Rallying For Their Communities