By David Kilby, Managing Editor
MONROE — A simple act of generosity requiring little more than the change in his pocket returned to a Monroe resident in the form of a $10,000 check when he became the grand prize winner of Stop & Shop’s Triple Winner charity.
The charity has donated millions of dollars to regional cancer institutes over the past few decades.
Bob Barton, of Monroe, a Vietnam-era veteran, received a check for $10,000 at the Stop & Shop on Perrineville Road on July 7 as the grand prize winner of the contest, which took place at Stop & Shop grocery stores in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. Now in its 21st year, the Triple Winner charity is a fundraiser in which shoppers at the checkout register made a contribution to benefit the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City to help fight pediatric cancer and search for a cure.
In the charity, Stop & Shop shoppers were invited to buy a scratch-off ticket for $1 between April 15 and July 14, and each dollar went directly to the fundraiser’s cause. The ticket had two sides, one where shoppers could win groceries and another where they could win cash.
Kia Albert, perishable manager for Monroe’s Stop & Shop, recalled when Mr. Barton received his winning ticket.
”It was actually the first day we started selling the tickets,” she said. “He didn’t even want the ticket. He just wanted to donate the dollar.”
The effort has raised more than $50 million for its cause since 1990 and more than $5 million this year.
All 400 Stop & Shop stores participated in the fundraiser, and all of the money raised in the tri-state area, which is about $25 million over the past 21 years, goes to Sloan-Kettering. The rest goes to The Jimmy Fund, a major children’s charity at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston that specializes in finding a cure for pediatric cancer.
According to Sloan-Kettering’s pediatric cancer department, the primary modes of treatment for childhood cancers include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and immunotherapy, reads Sloan-Kettering’s website, www.mskcc.org.
Mr. Barton, who served as a radio communication specialist during the Vietnam era, retired four years ago from a position with the United States Veterans Administration. He said he is not sure what he will do with the money, but will spend it wisely.
Mr. Barton said his family, like so many others, has been personally touched by cancer. He lost his sister-in-law, Karen, to brain cancer 15 years ago.
”They (shoppers) donate because cancer has touched everybody,” Ms. Albert said.
”Cancer impacts so many families. I don’t think any of us know a family that has not been touched by cancer,” Mr. Barton said. “Cancer can be devastating. That is why I always donate. It was just a dollar on my part, and I never imagined I would be rewarded with $10,000.”
”We are proud to partner with Stop & Shop as this campaign represents the heart of the communities embracing our children,” said Paul A. Meyers, vice chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at Sloan-Kettering. “With their support, our researchers can continue to develop new ways to make childhood cancer treatment more effective for each child we treat.”
Mr. Barton added, “It is just phenomenal that Stop & Shop could raise $50 million to benefit cancer research over the last 20 years, one dollar at a time. People want to help those in need. Stop & Shop has created an opportunity for all of us to help them to do that. I am so thankful that they cared enough to create this opportunity.”
”The Triple Winner Program has become a national model of how corporations and consumers can partner together to raise millions (of dollars) that save lives and make a difference in efforts to find a cure for pediatric cancer,” said Howard Cannon, spokesman for Stop & Shop.
