SHOPRITE

(Continued from Page 4) only helping the Lenape Regional High School District’s television program, Lenape District Television (LDTV), with its sports broadcasts and end-of-year award shows, but serving as a cameraman for the local ShopRite’s Stamp Out Hunger 5k and 1 Mile run/walk, usually held on Labor Day.

Price has also participated in the race, according to the store director, who noted Price “has always got his camera.”

“Of the hundreds of thousands of ShopRite associates who walked through these doors since 1999, only 1,500 of them have appeared on one of these commemorative boxes,” Hildner said. “Their recognition shows their commitment to ending hunger in the communities they serve and their efforts in going above and beyond their normal job duties.”

Gallagher, in noting that Price “has been pushing carts here since 2016,” emphasized how just important that position is to a grocery store, pointing out that “you cannot shop without a cart.”

“He is the guy keeping up carts for our customers since 2016,” Gallagher declared.

Renee Zallie, one of the co-owners of ShopRite of Medford, pointed out that the local supermarket has held its Stamp Out Hunger race now for eight years, and in its eighth year, “raised the most from it,” or $51,000.

$8,000 of that money was given to the Partners in Caring fund, while the store gave almost $29,000 directly to the Food Bank of South Jersey. She said the remaining $15,000 has “gone into local communities for hunger relief,” with $7,500 provided to the Christian Caring Center to provide for “hunger relief for the homeless” and another $7,500 “going to a pop-up food pantry.”

Eyesores

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‘We can’t do anything.’ It is not enough!”

Gower noted that several previously dilapidated structures, including historic homes, have recently been rehabilitated in town with new families moving in, and that he “salutes” those responsible for the rehabilitations, further declaring, “We made significant progress with our streetscape; we are feeling proud,” but now action is needed by council to bring the rest of the town into compliance.

“We are serving a need in Burlington County,” she declared. “All the money we raise goes directly back to providing hunger relief.”

As an honor for finishing among the top 50 stores in the latest challenge, ShopRite of Medford got to “select a local beneficiary to receive a $500 contribution to help them to continue to fight hunger in the community and food insecurity,” with it announced that the store would be donating the $500 to St. Mary of the Lakes Society of St Vincent de Paul. Jim Quigley, of St. Vincent de Paul, was on hand to receive the check in a special check presentation ceremony.

Fred Wasiak, the president and CEO of the Food Bank of South Jersey, also representing the Feed America Network, noted that such aid couldn’t come at a more important time, as “food stamp benefits have substantially gone away as of March 1.” While it could result in less traffic at the grocery store, he noted, Wasiak said it “will mean more traffic at food banks.”

ShopRite’s Partners in Caring program, Hildner explained, has joined forces with General Mills for more than 20 years, going back to 1999, “with the eventual goal of raising a modest $1 million to combat the scourge of local hunger in our communities.” But since that time, the program has “grown into a revered charitable fund” that now supports 2,500 different food pantries within the Feed America Network “from New England all the way down to Washington D.C. to the tune of over $3.2 million a year.”

This year’s theme, according to Hildner, is “Ending Hunger is Music to Our Ears –ShopRite Bands Together Against Hunger.”

Wasiak pointed out that for “every dollar the Food Bank of South jersey receives, for us, it means three meals,” and declared that “when you talk about $1 million or $3 million, in our terms, that is over 6 million meals provided to our communities over the years.”

“Now that is music to my ears,” Wasiak declared.

“Since we are making so much progress, let’s put our heads together, use our solicitor, and if he needs funds to research this further, give it to him and come up with better solutions,” Gower asserted. “I think all of us are begging you to please take action. The action is not enough to say, ‘windows are boarded up,’ the action is come up with fines heavy enough to hurt this developer.”

Gower added that he hopes the council “can tell us two months from now” the action that it will have taken “to change the fines and enforcement process” so that “we can see progress, after all these years, on this eyesore in the middle of our town,” comments of which solicited loud clapping from the audience.