NEW JERSEY — New York Giants Football Players unloaded an 18-wheeler as Stop & Shop donated 1,500 Thanksgiving Turkeys to the Community FoodBank of New Jersey. The players who took part included: Quarterback Geno Smith, Center Brett Jones, Tight end Jerrell Adams, Placekicker Aldrick Rosas, Cornerback Ross Cockrell, Guard Ethan Cooper and Offensive Tackles Chad Wheeler and Adam Bisnowaty.
Stop & Shop’s Turkey Express program will deliver nearly 21,000 turkeys to hunger-relief organizations in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island this holiday season.
Hunger remains a very real problem in New Jersey, with more families forced to rely on donated food as an ongoing, basic part of their plan to make ends meet. More people are coming more often to pantries and feeding programs because they must use their ever-eroding resources to pay for other critical needs such as housing, transportation and medicine, with little or nothing left over for food. Almost 900,000 people in New Jersey rely on food banks, and 7.7 million times a year, someone in need is fed by a food bank partner charity.
- Almost 300,000 children in New Jersey (nearly 1 in 7) are food insecure.
- A great many families rely on public and private assistance to help feed their children, utilizing school breakfasts and lunches and other food resources.
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- The Community FoodBank of New Jersey provides food to families across the state through its community partners – like local soup kitchens, food pantries and shelters – and through a range of programs including summer meals, Family Packs with food for households over the weekend, and Kids Cafes serving nourishing after-school dinners.
Of people served by the Community FoodBank of New Jersey:
· 77% often choose between paying for utilities and food.
· 73% choose between medicine and food.
· 70% choose between housing and food.
· 61% choose between transportation and food.
· 35% choose between education and food.
· 75% purchase inexpensive, unhealthy food as a way to cope.
· 57% have a household member with high blood pressure.
· 28% have a household member with diabetes.
Stop & Shop donates over $12 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 $1 million this year for more than 300 local hunger-relief organizations.
