Stop & Shop, About Fresh Partner to Fight Food Insecurity

Quincy, Mass.-based Stop & Shop, Ahold Delhaize USA’s largest brand, is partnering with Boston-based nonprofit About Fresh to tackle food insecurity in New England.

The program, which is through About Fresh’s Fresh Connect program, enables shoppers to use a prepaid debit card, prescribed by healthcare providers, to purchase healthy food.

"Especially in the midst of the global pandemic, working with Stop & Shop to ensure communities have access to fresh fruits and vegetables is more important than ever,” said Josh Trautwein, co-founder and CEO of About Fresh, in a statement. "By combining Stop & Shop’s reach across the Northeast with Fresh Connect’s innovative prescription produce program, thousands of people are gaining access to affordable, healthy food that they love.”

The prepaid debit cards are funded by healthcare organizations such as Brigham Medicaid ACO and Brigham Women’s Faulkner Hospital, as well as Boston Medical Center. Fresh Connect is a HIPAA-compliant platform.

According to the Greater Boston Food Bank, as many as 1 in 7 adults and 1 in 5 children in Massachusetts are struggling with food insecurity—numbers pushed higher by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This new partnership represents a significant step in the effort to combine healthcare resources with Fresh Connect’s groundbreaking technology and leading retail partners to significantly expand food access as a way to advance health equity—and to transform the way we fund efforts to eradicate food insecurity and improve public health,” according to a Stop & Shop statement.

Prior to teaming up with Stop & Shop, Fresh Connect cardholders were able to use their cards at About Fresh’s “Fresh Trucks,” as well as other local retailers.

Stop & Shop said its Grove Hall store was the pilot location for the program, which is now available at more than 100 store locations in Eastern Massachusetts. The retailer said in a statement it will expand the partnership to Stop & Shop's 400-plus stores by early spring.