Inserra Supermarkets recently presented a check for $109,356 to the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation (DRIF), a cause the family-owned, Mahwah-based company has supported for many years.
The check presentation event was held on Tuesday (Aug. 20) at ShopRite of Metro Plaza Jersey City, 400 Louis Marin Blvd., Jersey City, New Jersey. Inserra Family members, including Inserra Chairman and CEO Lawrence Inserra Jr., presented the check to DRIF CEO Michael Burton.
Also in attendance were DRIF Senior Vice President Tom Karlya; Inserra Supermarkets Vice President Lindsey Inserra; Inserra President Jim Dore; and Inserra General Manager Peter Cavo, the company said.
Concurrently, DRIF awarded ShopRite of Jersey City with a special trophy in recognition of the store’s first-place $10,470 raised during the company’s June “Dollars Against Diabetes” (DAD) fundraiser.
The $109,356 donation was generated from the company-wide DAD fundraisers held at all Inserra stores in Bergen, Hudson and Passaic counties in New Jersey and Rockland County, New York, as well as at its PriceRite Marketplaces in Garfield and Paterson, New Jersey. Inserra Shop-Rite locations include:
• ShopRite of Bayonne
• ShopRite of Columbia Park
• ShopRite of Emerson
• ShopRite of Fair Lawn
• ShopRite of Garnerville
• ShopRite of Hackensack
• ShopRite of Hillsdale
• ShopRite of Hoboken
• ShopRite of Jersey City
• ShopRite of Lodi
• ShopRite of Lyndhurst
• ShopRite of New City
• ShopRite of New Milford
• ShopRite of Northvale
• ShopRite of Palisade Pk
• ShopRite of Ramsey
• ShopRite of Stony Point
• ShopRite of West Milford
• ShopRite of West Nyack
• ShopRite of Wallington
• ShopRite of Wayne
• ShopRite of Wyckoff
All funds donated to DRIF directly support innovative research for the cure, according to a statement.
About Inserra Shop-Rite of Metro Plaza Jersey City
Inserra Shop-Rite of Metro Plaza Jersey City relocated from a suburban-style shopping complex to the transformation-in-progress development deemed Hudson Exchange. Anchoring the base of a 60-story high-rise, the new Shop-Rite is part of a two project plan across nine blocks.
The supermarket moved into the building last year, with ongoing construction to include 802 residential units and a 538-space parking garage for both residents and shoppers.
About Inserra Supermarkets
Inserra has third and fourth generation family members working to continue not only its supermarket legacy, but also a long tradition of community engagement and caring.
As one of the largest employers in the Greater Meadowlands Region, the family-owned Inserra supermarket chain provides full- and part-time positions to more than 5,000 associates. Each store runs at the local level and is a neighborhood supermarket that serves the unique needs of every community a shop resides.
Inserra’s business model is steeped in families serving families — a ShopRite tradition and mission that extends to its tagline “To Care Deeply About People, Helping Them To Eat Well And Be Happy®.” The Shop-Rite mission “enables our family to meet the needs of the neighborhoods we serve with products, services and charitable support.”
Inserra ShopRite started with a butcher shop. Working alongside his wife, Patsy Inserra turned his dream of launching a local grocery store in 1954, when he opened Patsy’s ShopRite in Lyndhurst, New Jersey. Under the entrepreneurial guidance of the late Lawrence Inserra, the company expanded to 14 ShopRite stores by 1981.
Today, the company runs under the direction of Chairman and CEO Lawrence Inserra Jr., the family’s third and fourth generations, plus President and COO Ron Onorato. Each generation of the Inserra family has built upon Patsy Inserra’s mission to lend a helping hand to those in need.
“As a family-owned and operated business our family lives and works in our community and our customers, our associates our neighbors have been an extension of our family from the day we opened our first store. More than 75 years later our family and our extended family has grown and so has our commitment to care for our local communities,” according to the company website.
About Shop-Rite
The ShopRite story started in the 1940s with eight mom and pop grocers who founded the Wakefern Food Corp. cooperative. Those founders went on to see the benefits of operating under one name, per the Shop-Rite website. There are now 321 ShopRite locations in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.
ShopRite founded the ShopRite Partners In Caring program to support the fight against hunger and support the special needs community.
About the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation
Headquartered in Hollywood, Florida, the Diabetes Research Institute is one of the largest and most comprehensive research centers dedicated to curing diabetes. It is aggressively working to develop a biological cure for diabetes by restoring natural insulin production and normalizing blood sugar levels without imposing other risks.
The mission of the Foundation is to provide the Diabetes Research Institute with the funding necessary to cure diabetes now. The Diabetes Foundation has served low-income, uninsured and under-insured patients since 1990. Medication and supplies, patient support services, public education programs, and diabetes camp scholarships for children are all supported by DRIF.