Stop & Shop Donates 2,000 Turkeys to Island Harvest and LI Cares

Randi Shubin Dresner, President and CEO of Island Harvest scored a goal on her FIRST shot as Island Harvest and Long Island Cares took part in a shootout sponsored by Stop & Shop during the first intermission at tonight’s Islander Flyer game to underscore the growing food insecurity on Long Island. Dresner was joined on the ice by Paule Pachter, CEO of Long Island Cares and Stop & Shop Regional Vice President of Operations and E-Commerce, Tarik Stewart.

Stop & Shop donated 2,000 Thanksgiving turkeys to Island Harvest Food Bank and Long Island Cares, Inc. The Harry Chapin Food Bank. The donation of turkeys on Long Island is part of Stop & Shop’s annual Turkey Express program provided nearly 22,000 turkeys to hunger relief organizations across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.

Stop & Shop’s donation spotlighted the increased need the Food Banks are facing going into the holiday season:

Long Island Cares, Inc. The Harry Chapin Food Bank:

• 221,000 Long Islanders suffer from food insecurity.65,000 are children

• Over the last year at the five pantries Long Island Cares operates in Nassau and Suffolk counties, they have seen a 32% increase in the number of visitors needing food.

• At the pantries, soup kitchens, senior homes, shelters and churches, that LI Cares services visitors have increased year over year between 35– 50%.

• LI Cares delivered more than 9 million pounds of food versus 7 million pounds in the first eight months of 2023 as compared to the same period in 2022

Island Harvest:

• Based on the most recent data from the New York State Education Department 1 in 3 school children on Long Island are considered economically disadvantaged and eligible for the free/reduced price lunch enrollment.

• Feeding America reports that 1 in 17 Long Island residents are food insecure.