Convenience store chain QuickChek, based in Whitehouse, N.J., has done its part in helping those in need in the communities where it operates. Through employee and customer-driven programs, the company raised $124,725 in support of local food banks’ efforts to help feed hungry families throughout its service areas.
“Our stores have remained open throughout the pandemic as an essential business and as an essential part of our local communities to meet people’s needs for fresh food, household products and services in a safe shopping environment,” said QuickChek CEO Dean Durling. “As a result of staying open, we have been able to continue our partnership with our area food banks to help our neighbors during this crisis.”
The timing could not be more important. About 54 million Americans are food insecure, which means they don’t know if they have enough to feed themselves and their families as far more people have become dependent on food assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than 1.2 million of those in need live in the Garden State, including nearly 400,000 children, according to the Community FoodBank of New Jersey.
Food banks on Long Island are reporting a nearly 50% increase in their food distribution since the start of the pandemic.
Food pantries and distributors have seen how food insecurity in the Mid-Hudson Valley has continued to grow since this spring’s outbreak.
“We’re also honored by the support we’ve received from our customers, whether it’s been by rounding up their change at checkout or purchasing the special subs we created at Thanksgiving, that has aided our efforts,” added Durling.
The iconic c-store chain raised a large portion of its donations this year through a coin drive to assist those who had been greatly affected by the coronavirus pandemic this past summer, raising $93,500 at a critical time for meal programs for children as schools were out and summer camps did not operate in the same manner as they had in the past.
QuickChek also donated 25 cents for every “Thanksgiving Everyday Sub” and “Thanksgiving Everyday Wrap” it sold during November to the Check-Out Hunger fundraising campaign.
Customers also made significant contributions by rounding up their purchases at store checkout counters.
QuickChek executives, support center personnel and local store team members volunteer shifts at various food banks throughout the year, as well. They packed 19,350 meals to aid the Community FoodBank of New Jersey’s Emergency Box Program; packed 12,513 meals to aid Island Harvest’s efforts to assist thousands of Long Island veterans and senior citizens in need; have planted produce at America’s Grow-A-Row in Pittstown, N.J.; and sorted donations at Fulfill NJ, the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley, and Long Island Cares.
The family-owned company has now raised $858,055 for local food banks during the seven years it has been a Check-Out Hunger campaign partner. All of the money raised benefits those in need within the counties in which QuickChek operates store locations throughout New Jersey, New York’s Hudson Valley and Long Island.
