PriceRite donations help local families
WOONSOCKET — Food is PriceRite’s business, but on Tuesday the city’s only supermarket donated a whole bunch of it to a raft of economically disadvantaged residents.
In partnership with Feed the Children, Conagra and Fairmount-based Connecting for Children and Families, the Diamond Hill Road food merchandiser supplied 800 families from Greater Woonsocket with 25-pound boxes of fresh produce and packaged foods.
In addition, the recipients took home 10 pounds’ worth of books and personal care products, including shampoo, hair conditioner and toiletries, according to PriceRite spokeswoman Laura Pietrafesa.
All of the recipients were selected on the basis of need by CCF, according to Pietrafesa.
“Fighting hunger in the local community is at the heart of PriceRite’s charitable giving, and the supermarket chain contributes approximately $500,000 annually to local food banks and food pantries to benefit local families in need within the communities it serves,” she said.
In an operation carried out with assembly-line coordination, nearly two dozen volunteers helped offload the supplies from two tractor-trailers to recipients as they arrived by car. It took several hours to complete the handoffs.
PriceRite says it will partner with Feed the Children to host 10 charity events this year, distributing an estimated 20 tons of food and other essentials to the needy.
Headquartered in Keasby, N.J, PriceRite is a registered trademark of the Wakefern Food Corporation and operates 63 grocery stores in the Northeast, including Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Feed the Children is a national nonprofit dedicated to eradicating hunger in the U.S. and abroad. Through its network of partner agencies, Feed the Children distributed 105 million pounds of food worth about $415 million worldwide last year.