U.S. Marines, many who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, unloaded 2,400 Thanksgiving turkeys that Stop & Shop donated to Long Island Cares, Inc. — The Harry Chapin Food Bank and Island Harvest Food bank to battle hunger on Long Island.
Stop & Shop’s Turkey Express program will deliver over 22,000 turkeys to hunger relief organizations in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island this holiday season.
- More than 316,000 Long Islanders face the risk of hunger each day.
- Nearly one-third of Long Islanders who receive supplemental food assistance are under 18 years old. Children faced with chronic hunger are more likely to experience behavioral issues, have reduced ability to learn social skills and suffer from impaired cognitive learning skills.
- Approximately 70,000 individuals seek food assistance in Nassau and Suffolk counties each week through soup kitchens, food pantries and other feeding programs.
- Most Long Islanders accessing emergency feeding programs are forced to choose between paying for housing, utilities, transportation, medical care and putting food on the table.
- Nearly 36 percent of people receiving food assistance report an income higher than 130 percent of poverty — the income eligibility threshold for SNAP assistance.
Stop & Shop donates over $17 million in product and financial support to individual food banks. In addition to the Turkey Express program, Stop & Shop continues to fight hunger through the Food for Friends campaign, which will raise more than $2.5 million this year for more than 300 local hunger relief organizations through the states that it operates in.