Stop & Shop Helps Support Bays Water School Food Pantry

Stop & Shop has donated $12,500 in gift cards to enable The Bays Water School, P.S. 104Q, located at 26-01 Mott Ave in Far Rockaway, to open an in-school food pantry to meet the needs of the 570 pre-K through fifth grade students.

 In addition to the gift card donation, Stop & Shop has partnered with the Consumer Healthcare division at Sanofi, and TerraCycle, an international leader in innovative sustainability solutions headquartered in Trenton, New Jersey to donate two benches and three flower beds made from recycled Gold Bond, Cortizone-10 and Selsun Blue products, as well as soil and plant seeds to P.S. 104Q so their students may learn the importance of environmental sustainability through gardening.

“At TerraCycle, we value teaching kids about the importance of respecting and protecting the planet,” TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky said. “We are pleased to partner with Shop & Stop and the Consumer Healthcare team at Sanofi to give back to a deserving school and bring joy to its students and community.”

P.S. 104Q is a Title 1 school, which means it has a high percentage of children from low-income households. 100% of the students qualify for free or reduced lunches, and through this food pantry, they will be able to feed 200 families a month, focusing on students living in temporary housing.

“This is such an amazing time at PS104. On behalf of the PS104 community, I would like to thank Stop and Stop, the Consumer Healthcare team at Sanofi, and TerraCycle for their generous donations,” Principal at The Bays Water School, Deirdre Carl said. “Our community is extremely grateful and appreciative, and I know these donations will go a long way in supporting our families combatting food insecurity. “

 Beneficiaries of the food pantry will be able to pick up groceries once a month. The pantry will provide proteins, such as chicken and ground beef, fresh produce including apples, bananas, and tomatoes, and side dishes comprising of spaghetti, macaroni, rice, string beans, and vegetables.

The Stop & Shop School Food Pantry Program was established to help limit barriers impacting students’ ability to succeed in the classroom by making sure that they have consistent access to food. Stop & Shop supports local schools’ existing food pantries or helps them establish a new one by providing gift card donations to help stock their shelves.

“This in-school pantry will ensure that P.S. 104Q students and families facing hunger will have access to nutritious healthy food and necessary protein options to help them succeed in the classroom and beyond,” Stop & Shop Communications Manager, Daniel Wolk said. “We are also very thankful to our wonderful partners Sanofi and TerraCycle for their assistance in creating and donating benches and flower beds to The Bays Water School, so the young students may learn the importance of aiding our environment through gardening.”

Stop & Shop currently supports more than 170 School Food Pantries across its five-state footprint. Across the city, there are 44 total school pantries, 14 in Queens, 14 in the Bronx, 14 in Brooklyn, three in Staten Island, and several more to open across the boroughs in 2023. For more information about Stop & Shop’s School Food Pantry program, visit https://stopandshop.com/pages/school-food-pantry-program.