LYNN — Stop & Shop has partnered with Boston-based nonprofit About Fresh to provide prepaid debit cards “prescribed” by healthcare providers to people struggling with food insecurity as a way to offer them the money and convenience to purchase nutritious foods.
This “Fresh Connect” program is now available at Stop & Shop on Washington Street, allowing participating customers to shop for fresh fruits and vegetables by swiping the prepaid debit card at check out, automatically deducting the cost of the produce from the total purchase price.
The Fresh Connect program was piloted at the store’s location in Quincy, and its success expanded it to more than 100 store locations in eastern Massachusetts.
It is expected to continue expanding to the more than 400 Stop & Shop locations by early spring.
According to the Greater Boston Food Bank, as many as one in seven adults and one in five children in the state are struggling with food insecurity ― numbers that have grown because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the establishment of the Fresh Connect program, Stop & Shop became the first major retailer to make this produce-as-a-prescription program available to expand access to fresh and healthy food for people in need across New England.
With prepaid debit cards prescribed by healthcare providers and a HIPAA-compliant platform, Fresh Connect is said to empower patients who are experiencing food insecurity to buy fresh fruits and vegetables to help improve their overall health and wellbeing.
Fresh Connect’s debit cards are for qualifying individuals and families and are primarily funded by major health care institutions including Brigham Medicaid ACO, Brigham Women’s Faulkner Hospital and Boston Medical Center.
Before partnering with Stop & Shop, Fresh Connect cardholders were able to use their cards at About Fresh’s “Fresh Trucks,” which offer fresh produce around Boston, and at other local retailers.
By making Fresh Connect cards available for Stop & Shop shoppers, About Fresh said more cardholders get the added convenience of access to fresh fruits and vegetables where they are already shopping.
Josh Trautwein, co-founder and CEO of About Fresh, said working with Stop & Shop to ensure communities have access to fresh fruits and vegetables, especially in the midst of the global pandemic, is more important than ever.
“By combining Stop & Shop’s reach across the Northeast with Fresh Connect’s innovative prescription produce program, thousands of people are gaining access to affordable, healthy food that they love,” Trautwein said.
To learn more about the About Fresh “Fresh Connect” program, visit www.aboutfresh.org/fresh-connect.
