Stop & Shop and the Boston Red Sox are hitting a home run with their new partnership to battle childhood hunger. As champions of the New England community, the Red Sox and Stop & Shop are joining forces in a multi-year campaign to Strike Out School Hunger, with a pledge to donate 10,000,000 meals to students who are facing food insecurity. For each Red Sox strikeout during regular season home games, Stop & Shop, now the Official Grocery Store of the Red Sox, will donate 10,000 meals to support the Stop & Shop School Food Pantry Program.
According to the USDA, more than 1 in 5 children lives in a food insecure household. Launched in 2019, the Stop & Shop School Food Pantry Program works directly with schools to establish and support food pantries to ensure that kids don’t have to go to school hungry, and to help them perform their best. Stop & Shop school food pantries nourish students ranging from pre-K through college. Stop & Shop supports nearly 100 in-school pantries thus far in the City of Boston, Lynn, Fall River, and communities across New England.
The Strike Out School Hunger partnership will kick off today with a press conference at Stop & Shop School Food Pantry Program partner school, Jeremiah E. Burke High School in Grove Hall, featuring attendants Gordon Reid, President of Stop & Shop, Sam Kennedy, Red Sox President & CEO, and special guests – Hall of Famer David Ortiz, and Wally The Green Monster to help raise awareness of childhood hunger.
“Making sure kids have consistent access to food is the reason we created the Stop & Shop School Food Pantry Program. We want to limit the barriers that can impact a students’ ability to succeed and help them to build better futures,” said Gordon Reid, President of Stop & Shop. “By teaming up with the Boston Red Sox, we’re excited to get the baseball and broader New England community involved in the cause – and to shine an even brighter spotlight on the pressing issue of childhood hunger.”
The partnership will include a special activation for Hunger Action Day on September 17 at Fenway Park, where for the first time, an “orange out” will occur on the Green Monster when ticketholders seated in the area will be gifted with orange t-shirts to raise awareness around food insecurity. On September 17, there will also be a food drive at the ballpark, where ticketholders will be encouraged to bring donations of non-perishable items that will be donated directly to Stop & Shop’s local school food pantries.
“Tackling food insecurity felt by students throughout New England by committing 10 million meals to Stop & Shop’s school food pantry program will have real impact,” said Red Sox Executive Vice President, Troup Parkinson. “We could not think of a more meaningful way to activate a longstanding partnership with our friends at Stop & Shop and look forward to working together to combat childhood hunger.”
The additional access to food supplements the current approach Boston Public Schools (BPS) employs to provide meals for students. BPS offers free breakfast and lunch daily to 49,000 students during the school year and provides after school meals to accompany after school programs. Over the summer, BPS offers access to free meals at more than 100 sites across Boston. BPS also collaborates with the City of Boston’s Office of Food Justice to provide meals in emergency and pandemic conditions.
To learn more about The Stop & Shop Food Pantry Program, visit https://stopandshop.com/pages/school-food-pantry-program.
A neighborhood grocer for more than 100 years, Stop & Shop offers a wide assortment with a focus on fresh, healthy options at a great value. Stop & Shop’s GO Rewards loyalty program delivers personalized offers and allows customers to earn points that can be redeemed for gas or groceries every time they shop. Stop & Shop customers can choose how and where they want to shop – whether in-store or online for delivery or same day pickup. The company is committed to making an impact in its communities by fighting hunger, supporting our troops, and investing in pediatric cancer research to help find a cure. The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company LLC is an Ahold Delhaize USA Company and employs 58,000 associates and operates more than 400 stores throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey. To learn more about Stop & Shop, visit www.stopandshop.com.