Shop Rite Associates Honored for Hunger Program Efforts

RIO GRANDE — Two Rio Grande Shop Rite employees have their photos on boxes of Cheerios as part of the food store chain’s program to end hunger in the community.
Store associates Peggy Abadie, of North Cape May and Janice DiGaetano, of Court House, were honored in a ceremony March 17 which featured an unveiling of the Cheerios box with their photos.
Shop Rite spokesperson Orien Reid said the Rio Grande store has the distinction of being one of the top 30 stores of the chain’s 200 stores to win the ninth annual Shop Rite Partners in Caring Cheerios Box Competition.
She said the Partners in Caring program was created 11 years ago by Shop Rite to end hunger in the communities it serves. Shop Rite has donated more than $22 million to over 1,500 community charities, said Reid.
This year’s theme is “Leading the Way to End Hunger.”
“The problem of hunger is growing at an alarming rate,” said Reid.
Feed America, a coalition of food banks, issued its 2010 report showing its member organizations are providing food for 37 million persons in America, she said. Of that number, 14 million hungry persons are children, said Reid.
She noted there have been cutbacks in breakfast programs for children around the country.
Reid acknowledged Jim Fitzgibbons, retail sales representative for General Mills, for proving the back of Cheerios’ boxes that educates breakfast eaters about the Partners in Caring program and hunger in America.
Last September, which was Hunger Awareness Month, General Mills and Shop Rite challenged store associates to find creative ways raise money and public awareness of hunger.
Associates sold $1 donation cards at the cash register for Partners in Caring and held special events, which raised nearly $500,000 from Shop Rite’s locations, said Reid.
Rio Grande Shop Rite Manager Harry Baumgartner said Abadie “could sell anything to anybody.” The $1 donation cards with the donor’s name were displayed in the store to show its impact, he said.
Baumgartner said DiGaetano organized a Bowl-a-Thon and pretzel sales to raise money.
Reid said Abadie and DiGaetano were selected by their co-workers to represent Rio Grande Shop Rite on Cheerios’ boxes. Both winners received an engraved, commemorative Cheerios box featuring their photos.
General Mills donated an additional $20,000 to Partners in Caring.
Jane Thompson, of Holy Redeemer Food Pantry, said she is seeing a growing number of recipients including senior citizens and unemployed persons who cannot find a job.
“We are hearing that many people that were volunteers at food pantries are now recipients because they lost a job or there has been a catastrophic illness…” she said.
Monica Farrow from Bethel Commandment Church Food Bank in Whitesboro, a recipient of the Partner’s in Caring program, told the Herald the need for food has increased greatly from one year ago. She said some people are living in motels and the food bank gives them products that don’t require a kitchen to prepare.
Bethel Commandment Church provides meat, bread, produce, cereal, milk, canned vegetables and fruit, said Farrow.
“A lot of people have to decide between food and shelter, food and heat, so we can offset that,” she said.