Listen to this articleThe basics:
- ShopRite hosts 26th annual Partners in Caring Cheerios Contest
- Fundraiser supports food banks across NJ and other states
- Winning stores’ associates to appear on Cheerios box in 2025
- Food insecurity in NJ up 65% since height of COVID-19
To mark Hunger Action Month in September, ShopRite supermarkets across New Jersey are once again rallying to raise funds for local food banks.
Sponsored in partnership with General Mills, the 26th annual ShopRite Partners in Caring Cheerios Contest is a friendly competition each fall that challenges store workers to collect donations at checkout to help fight hunger in their communities.
According to the Wakefern Food Corp.-owned banner, stores that raise the most money by Oct. 4 will have their associates’ photos featured on a special-edition Cheerios cereal box next spring.
Founded in 1999, ShopRite Partners in Caring is a year-round, community-based, hunger-fighting initiative. The program works with more than 50 food industry manufacturers to provide $3 million annually to qualified charitable agencies in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania – all states where ShopRite has a presence.
Over the years, ShopRite Partners in Caring has raised nearly $65 million to support more than 2,500 local charities. According to ShopRite, recipients include:
- Emergency food pantries
- Soup kitchens
- Homeless shelters
- Child care agencies
- Women’s shelters
- Senior citizen programs
- Drug rehab centers
- Afterschool programs
‘We care here’
Commenting on the launch of this year’s Cheerios contest, Alexandra Emery, ShopRite’s manager of sustainability and corporate social responsibility, said, “We are committed to fighting food insecurity because our stores are family-owned by grocers who are in the communities their stores operate. We are here and we care here.”
“We are especially proud of the retail teams for their fundraising efforts and their commitment to the Cheerios contest each year,” Emery said, adding, “We want our customers to know we are here, and this contest is a meaningful way to bring people together and make a real difference in the lives of those facing food insecurity.”
Nearly 1.1 million people in New Jersey are currently food insecure – a 65% increase since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Among them are over 270,000 children, with child food insecurity climbing 54%, according to the Community FoodBank of New Jersey.
Between 2021 and 2023, the average food insecurity rate in New Jersey was 9.8%, affecting about 347,000 households annually. This marks an increase from 8.4% between 2018 and 2020, state data show.
