Shaw’s Supermarkets and Star Market Makes Holiday Donations

In an effort to combat hunger and food insecurity throughout New England, Shaw’s Supermarkets and Star Market are making monetary holiday donations to fifty-four local food banks totaling more than $50,000.  Food insecurity is a growing epidemic and the food banks, which are located throughout Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, are faced with increased demand during holiday season. “We are in the food business, and one of our highest priorities is to make sure that we are doing our part to make sure that no one goes hungry,” says Jim Rice, president of Shaw’s Supermarkets and Star Market.  “The staff and volunteers that run these food banks work extremely hard throughout the year to help our fellow neighbors and we wanted to do a little something special to help them through this holiday season.” Running in tandem to this new program, Shaw’s and Star Market runs a program in November called Turkey Bucks in which customers donate towards complete Thanksgiving meals for those who need a little help with their family celebrations.  This Thanksgiving, Shaw’s and Star Market through this program donated Thanksgiving meals to 4,000 families, according to company officials. Currently Shaw’s and Star Market are running their Spirit of Giving Campaign in which customers purchase pre-filled bags of food that are donated to local food banks.  Last year’s program generated $479,820 which became 346,761 meals for New England’s hungry, company officials add.