Press Release from Stop & Shop
NEPTUNE, NJ- Members of the Monmouth University Football unloaded 2,000 turkeys donated by Stop & Shop to the FoodBank of Ocean and Monmouth Counties, Thursday, November 17th as the Food bank responds to unprecedented requests for emergency assistance.
The student athletes say they hope their efforts will lead others to help the FoodBank meet the needs of the hungry in this difficult economic period. In the past year the FoodBank says it has seen a 6 percent increase in food distribution – from 11.1 million pounds of food to11.7 million pounds of food.
- 132,000 people in Monmouth and Ocean Counties live on incomes that put them at risk of hunger at some time each month.
- 40% of them are children and elderly.
- To afford the monthly rent of an average two-bedroom apartment in Ocean and Monmouth Counties, a minimum wage worker would have to work THREE fulltime jobs.
- A family of four needs an annual income of between $62,000 and $69,000 to be self-sufficient in Monmouth or Ocean Counties, but 20% of Monmouth County and 28% of Ocean County households earn less than $35,000 annually.
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.
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.
