Big Y in the News
Headquartered in Springfield, MA, Big Y is one of the largest independently owned supermarket chains in New England. Proud to be family owned and operated, we operate almost 80 stores throughout Connecticut and Massachusetts with over 11,000 employees. Big Y has been named a 2015 Employer of Choice by the Employers Association of the Northeast. Founded in 1936 by brothers Paul and Gerald D'Amour, the store was named after an intersection in Chicopee, Massachusetts where two roads converge to form a "Y".
Big Y in the News contains excerpts from press releases that have been sent to local media.
Sack Hunger in Your Town
SPRINGFIELD, MA - (November 11, 2019)
For the 10th year, all Big Y Supermarkets are working to help feed the hungry within their local communities through Care To Share Sack Hunger – a large reusable grocery bag filled with staple non-perishable food items for local food banks. Customers purchase a Sack Hunger bag of groceries for $10 and Big Y distributes the food to that region’s local food bank. In turn, the food banks distribute the filled “sacks” to area soup kitchens, food pantries, senior food programs, daycare centers as well as many of their other member agencies. All of the donated sacks are distributed within the supermarket’s marketing area so every donation stays within the local community. Since its inception ten years ago, over 155,000 bags of food have been donated to area needy via Big Y’s Care To Share Sack Hunger Program. This year’s Sack Hunger campaign runs from November 7th through December 24th.
As an additional option, customers may choose to purchase and donate a $10 “Virtual Bag” at the register that will be used by the agencies to purchase turkeys or whatever is most needed. Online donations will also be accepted. See https://www.bigy.com/rs/GiftCards for more information.
As an added bonus, any customer donations made on Saturday, November 23rd will be matched by Big Y.
New to the program this year, Table & Vine in partnership with Don Sebastiani and Sons, MS Walker and The Crusher Wines will donate $1of every bottle sold of “The Crusher” Pinot Noir to Sack Hunger. They invite you to #DontJustSackHungerCrushIt with them. The Crusher Wines are named after the first most precious moments in wines making when the grapes meet “the crusher” and begin to transform the wine. More information can be found at the TableandVine.com
According to Charles L. D’Amour, President and CEO, “Our Sack Hunger program makes it easy for our customers to provide nutritious, non-perishable staple food to those less fortunate within our community. We all appreciate their efforts to make this a bigger program each year. It’s one more reason why we’re more than food, we’re my Big Y”
All five food banks within Big Y’s marketing area are participating in Sack Hunger. These food banks represent over 2,100 member agencies throughout the region. They are the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, The Greater Boston Food Bank, Worcester County Food Bank, Foodshare of Greater Hartford, and The Connecticut Food Bank.
The sacks include the following non-perishable Big Y items: instant rice, corn flakes, creamy peanut butter, tuna, kidney beans, green beans, whole kernel corn, quick oats, elbow macaroni, and sweet peas. Sacks are available at all 71 Big Y Supermarkets and Table & Vine’s flagship location in West Springfield, MA.
Last year, Big Y customers donated nearly 22,000 bags of food to those in need. They hope to beat that figure this year. Over the ten years of the program, Big Y has donated over $10.5 million of food or a total of 5.3 million meals to help those in need in their communities