Stop & Shop Donates $10,000 to Help Open the Yeshiva K’tana of Waterbury Food Pantry and Combat Hunger

With Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, a few days away, Stop & Shop donated $10,000 in gift cards to the Yeshiva K’tana of Waterbury, located at 142 S Elm Street, to help open an in-school food pantry. The Yeshiva K’tana of Waterbury Food Pantry is the first in-school food pantry located at a Yeshiva that Stop & Shop has helped open and support through the Stop & Shop School Food Pantry Program.

In 2000, nine Orthodox Jewish families, together with 30 young Orthodox Jewish men, moved to Waterbury, CT, and established Yeshiva Gedolah of Waterbury, a high school. As the community grew, the need for a preschool and elementary school quickly became clear, leading to the founding of Yeshiva K’tana of Waterbury. The school began with just two classes of five students each, but as more families discovered the warmth and vibrancy of life in Waterbury, both the community and the school’s enrollment expanded. Today, Yeshiva K’tana has developed into a full-service preschool, elementary, and middle school, educating more than 750 children.

Students at the Yeshiva K’tana of Waterbury range in age from 2 to 14, and more than 58% qualify for free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch. Stop & Shop’s $10,000 donation will help provide over 150 students with access to much-needed Kosher food through the school’s brand-new pantry. Kayco, the leading Kosher food distributor in America, also donated products to support the pantries grand opening. Among the Kosher products that will be available year-round are:

• Kedem Plain Tea Biscuits
• Grab 1 Hydrate Fruit Punch
• Kedem Light Apple Juice
• Gefen Kosher Chicken Noodle Instant Soup Cup
• Gefen Kosher Vegetable Flavor Noodle Instant Soup Cup
• Manischewitz Kosher Original Tam Tams Crackers
• Bachman Pretzel Stix
• Snyder’s of Hanover’s Pretzel Rods

“One of the most important parts of a thriving school community is making sure every teacher and child is nourished and cared for,” said Rabbi Brecher, Principal at Yeshiva K’tana of Waterbury. “Thanks to the Stop & Shop pantry, our shelves are filled with food and snacks, ensuring that no matter the circumstance, every teacher and student has something to eat and feel supported by.”

The Stop & Shop School Food Pantry Program was launched to help limit barriers impacting students’ ability to succeed in the classroom by making sure that they have consistent access to food. Stop & Shop works directly with schools from Pre-K through college to support their school food pantry or help them establish a new one by providing gift card donations to assist in stocking their shelves.

“We launched the Stop & Shop School Food Pantry Program because addressing food insecurity in our communities is Stop & Shop’s leading charitable priority,” said Jim Mullen, Regional Vice President of Operations for Stop & Shop. “In honor of Rosh Hashanah, we are proud to help open our first Stop & Shop School Food Pantry in a Yeshiva that plays such an important role in shaping the lives of Jewish children. Students at any level cannot learn, grow, or thrive without access to consistent, nutritious meals. By supporting the Yeshiva K’tana of Waterbury in opening their school food pantry, we are helping ensure that their students can focus on their studies and development, rather than worrying about when they’ll eat next. We are honored to support the Yeshiva K’tana of Waterbury and wish all their students and the Jewish community members of Waterbury a Happy New Year.”

Stop & Shop currently supports over 260 School Food Pantries across its five-state footprint, serving over 45,000 students and families monthly. In Connecticut alone, Stop & Shop partners with 66 schools supporting 50 pantries and has donated over $1 million to school food pantry initiatives statewide since 2019. In Waterbury, Stop & Shop supports four school food pantries, Yeshiva K’tana of Waterbury, Children’s Community School, UCONN of Waterbury, and Naugatuck Valley Community College, and in 2025 donated $35,000 to these institutions. For more information about Stop & Shop’s School Food Pantry program, visit https://stopandshop.com/pages/school-food-pantry-program.