Taking a Risk to Support Her Community: Deneen Grant

For many elderly New York residents, shopping for groceries during the COVID-19 pandemic has become a life or death challenge. Technology has made online shopping and delivery more accessible, but only for those who are comfortable with using these services. Local 338 members have seen many of these struggles of their elderly customers, even before the crisis. Deneen Grant, who works at the ShopRite in Commack, is just one of these members, and she made it her mission to help two customers in need who regularly rely on her store.

One day, an elderly man named Richard called the ShopRite in Commack and Deneen picked up. He explained he and his wife, both in their mid-80s and wheelchair bound, were scared to go to their local grocery store to pick up essential groceries due to the pandemic because they were more at risk to contracting COVID-19. After explaining that ShopRite’s Shop-at-Home website was an option for them, Richard replied that they didn’t own a computer and he only had a flip phone. Ordering groceries online would be like learning an exotic language for him.

Deneen sympathized with the elderly couple’s dilemma so she manually took the customer’s order through the phone despite the store clearly dictating this was against the rules. Deneen knew this couple needed her help and, in some cases, rules are meant to be broken. Deneen shopped for the elderly couple during her breaks and hand-delivered their groceries safely to their car when they arrived.

The elderly couple were incredibly grateful to find an employee as dedicated to her community members as Deneen. They wrote her a thank you letter detailing their appreciation for sacrificing her breaks and job security to help them through the pandemic safely. They explained there were few people who were willing to come to their aid, they had no children to help them and without Deneen, life would have been incredibly difficult. Local 338 members are all heroes. In times of strife, the compassion and consideration of people like Deneen Grant shine to illuminate even the darkest of times. Thank you for your service to your community, Deneen!