Grocery Chain Seeds Food Pantry At Worcester School Where Students Go Hungry

WORCESTER, MA — A Worcester elementary school whose more than 400 students all qualify for free or reduced school meals opened a food pantry this week seeded with a donation from one of the largest grocery chains in the Northeast.

Stop & Shop provided a $12,500 donation to open the City View Discovery School's new food pantry. The resource opened Wednesday at the Prospect Street school.

The City View pantry will offer food and personal care items to any student who needs them. About one-third of students in the immediate area around the school have received food help through the Worcester County Food Bank over the last year, according to a Stop & Shop news release.

"Named 'The Eagle’s Nest,' the new pantry will be accessible to City View’s 430 students in PreK-6th grade, 100 percent of whom are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals — but struggle with access to food at night and over the weekends," the news release said.

On top of funding from the grocery store, volunteers from UMass Chan Medical School and the Milford-based Consigli Construction Co. helped build the physical pantry. The nonprofit Juniper Outreach Foundation — a local nonprofit that distributes food and clothing in schools — will help run the new pantry, including stocking it in the future. Fifth and 6th grade student council members will also staff the pantry.

Stop & Shop says it has donated about $60,000 over the past two years in its "fight against hunger" in the Worcester area. Although founded in Quincy, the Stop & Shop chain is owned by Dutch conglomerate Ahold Delhaize, which reported 2022 net income of $2.5 billion, up from $2.2 billion in 2021. The chain has close to 400 locations across Massachusetts (including three in Worcester), Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey.

Hunger In America

Patch has partnered with Feeding America since 2020 to help raise awareness of hunger in our local communities, a persistent national problem exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Feeding America, which supports 200 food banks across the country, estimates that 1 in 8 people face hunger. This is a Patch social good project; Feeding America receives 100 percent of donations. Find out how you can donate in your community or find a food pantry near you.