Shaw’s in Peterborough raised $18,800 for the Peterborough Food Pantry through the store’s holiday Nourishing Neighbors campaign, and on Monday store manager Eli Rajaniemi handed a big check to Peterborough Food Pantry President Glo Morison.

All Shaw’s stores in New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Massachusets and Rhode Island participated in the annual fundraiser, which ran in November and December, and offered customers the option to donate money at checkout. Rajaniemi explained the campaign “was established to help local community organizations with hunger prevention programs.”

Together, all Shaw’s raised $1.17 million, and the Peterborough Shaw’s raised more than any other store. Rajaniemi credits his staff, saying “my team does a great job putting it front and center,” and the “extreme generosity of the community.”

Shaw’s store directors chose hunger relief organizations and invited them to apply to participate in the program. 

This donation is a big deal to the Peterborough Food Pantry.

“Our usage is up 60 percent this year,” said board treasurer Richard Redding, “Our costs have doubled. This is a meaningful contribution to help us offset usage and cost.”

And the pantry only expects need to increase as additional help provided by Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) during the pandemic is ending at the end of February. 

Morison said this donation speaks to “how great the community is” and believes people are even more generous when they know their money is staying local.

“It’s a big chunk of our annual food budget,” said Morison.

“We’re all volunteers,” Redding said, “Over 90 percent of money goes straight to supporting customers.”

Rajaniemi said the campaign will be coming back at the end of 2023. 

]]>