Since 1991, Stop & Shop has been partnering with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to raise money for pediatric cancer research. The 2020 Help Cure Childhood Cancer campaign invited customers in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and northern Connecticut stores to round their purchases to the nearest dollar at checkout, with 100% of their change going to pediatric cancer research. Customers could also purchase reusable shopping bags featuring patient artwork, with 25% of the proceeds going to the campaign.
Customers shopping at StopandShop.com for pickup or home delivery—services that have been extremely popular over the past year—were able to give $1, $3 and $5 at checkout. A gift from the Stop & Shop Family Foundation supplemented customer contributions, for a total of $2.5 million raised in 2020 and a 30-year total of $73 million.
“Help Cure Childhood Cancer provides Stop & Shop’s caring customers and dedicated associates an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of children and young adults who have been affected by cancer,” said Stop & Shop President Gordon Reid. “Their generosity is matched only by their impact.”
Store signage for the campaign featured photos of ambassadors like 2-year-old Daylight King, a patient in Dana-Farber’s Jimmy Fund Clinic.
“Daylight knows exactly what she wants,” laughs her mother, Kesora King. “That will serve her well when she grows up, but she can be a handful now!” Kesora says that Daylight loves the activities specialists in the Jimmy Fund Clinic, and is delighted to do crafts and play games with them when she comes in for treatment.
Activities specialists have continued coming into the clinic to provide much needed support to families who are coping with the dual stresses of their child’s cancer diagnosis and COVID-19.
“Cancer doesn’t stop because of COVID-19 and neither does Dana-Farber,” said Scott Armstrong, MD, PhD, chair of the Department of Pediatric Oncology and the David G. Nathan, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, who has continued leading research and treatment during the pandemic. “Support from Stop & Shop is always critical but even more so this year as the pandemic has influenced everything we do. This critical support allows us to continue to provide children with the most effective and least toxic treatments so that one day we can cure all children with cancer.”