Summer is an especially food-insecure season for children who depend on those free or reduced lunches during the school year.
With that need in mind, Price Rite Marketplace has extended its Feeding Minds & Bodies initiative with Feed the Children for an eighth year, which should help an estimated 22,000 people through eight community events.
The program will supply families with fresh fruits and vegetables, other groceries, personal care essentials and educational tools children need for a successful school year, according to a news release.
Since 2015, the two organizations have provided these essentials to almost 40,000 families throughout Price Rite Marketplace’s store footprint.
“Thanks to partners like Feed the Children, we are able to provide critical fresh food and essentials to families in eight cities this season, helping give back to and care for the communities in which our stores operate,” Price Rite Senior Vice President Kevin McDonnell said in the release.
Price Rite Marketplace is a registered trademark of Keasbey, N.J.-based Wakefern Food Corp., a retailer-owned cooperative. Price Rite operates more than 60 grocery stores in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Maryland.
Feed the Children is an organization that distributes product donations from corporate donors to local community partners, provides support for teachers and students and mobilize resources quickly to aid recovery efforts when natural disasters strike.
The Feeding Minds & Bodies partnership is designed bring attention to and ease childhood hunger by donating these items throughout the year. With one in six U.S. children living in a food-insecure household, hunger remains a serious issue in many communities, especially during summer months, according to the release.
At each community event, 800 pre-identified families will receive several boxes:
- A 25-pound box of food, enough to supplement meals for a family of four for one week;
- A 15-pound box of personal essentials, such as shampoo, conditioner, lotion and personal-care items; and
- More shelf-stable items provided by Price Rite Marketplace.
“Those living paycheck-to-paycheck often do not have a safety net. Our partners are a critical part of providing compassionate support to those who are facing tough decisions about how to care for their families,” Feed the Children President and CEO Travis Arnold said in the release.
Cities hosting Feeding Minds & Bodies events include: Chelsea, Mass.; Hyattsville, Md.; Utica, N.Y.; Providence, R.I.; New Britain, Conn.; Rochester, N.Y.; Torrington, Conn.; and Harrisburg, Pa.
Since partnering with Feed the Children, Price Rite Marketplace has contributed almost 3 million pounds of food, totaling more than $10 million in gift-in-kind donations, helping more than 165,000 people in 49 cities, according to the release.