The annual Ride & Stride for Food is coming up at the end of the month. We are looking to field a team of 20 riders and 10 striders to join Team Centre Street in an effort to meet our goal of raising $50,000 to help fight local food insecurity. Can we count on you? The event takes place on September 27 at the Noble and Greenough School in Dedham, with rides of 25, 50 and 62 miles and a 5K walk. As of this writing, we have 23 team members, so we could use a few more to join this fun day. Our fundraising goal received a huge boost when two generous supporters offered to match all donations received by September 15, up to $10,000! If you would like to join the team or donate, please visit the Team Centre Street page. You can donate to an individual or to the team at large. If you have questions, feel free to reach out to Team Captain, and Board Member, Andy Levine. We hope to see you on Sept. 27!

We are truly humbled by the outpouring of support for this year’s No Child Hungry campaign. Through the generosity of our donors and the tremendous $50,000 matching gift by the Berlin Foundation, we surpassed our campaign goal of $100,000! This summer’s program provided enough whole milk, fresh sandwich rolls, deli meats, sliced cheese, yogurt and fresh fruit to make over 12,000 lunches for kids! These lunches filled the bellies of 1,300 children every month from June through early September, and helped reduce a financial burden on their families. Donations we received exceeding the campaign goal are already being put to excellent use by funding our Kids Club Program throughout the year. Thank you to all who gave to this campaign and demonstrated their support for the health of children in our community.

We are very pleased to announce Lisa Weinman as the new President of the Board of Directors of Centre Street! Lisa joined the board two years ago as a member of the Marketing & Fundraising and the Governance committees. Prior to joining the board, she was a volunteer for many years in numerous onsite roles, including checking in clients, packing produce bags, unloading deliveries, and stocking shelves. A former employment lawyer, Lisa lives in Newton with her husband, two kids and golden retriever. “I am honored and excited to take on this new role for Centre Street! As a longtime volunteer, I've met many of the families who come to us each week, and helping them put food on the table is deeply meaningful to me. I look forward to working with our incredible staff, volunteers, donors, and community partners to champion our mission and ensure we do as much as we can for as many as we can. I would also like to extend my personal gratitude to Taylor for his excellent leadership during his tenure as president. Taylor led this organization with vision, energy, integrity, humor and humility. His leadership helped position Centre Street to serve more families than ever before—leaving us stronger together and ready for what comes next.”

Our volunteer Q&As are a terrific way to learn even more about Centre Street. Often our volunteers are well versed in their own specialty - packing bags, running carts, client intake, all the work that makes a service day go smoothly - but don’t necessarily know what else is happening in other “departments.” Or volunteers may have questions about the overall organization, like how much we’ve grown, what our future plans are, how many people we serve, all sorts of good info. And that’s why we host volunteer Q&A sessions. This next session will start with an outside-to-inside review of operations by Rose Saia and new board president Lisa Weinman, then move inside for small group Q&A time with them. Very informal, very informative. We’d love to have you join the next Volunteer Q&A, taking place at 5pm on Tuesday, September 15. Look for an email invitation or sign up here.

Centre Street recently received some wonderful news. This summer, we received an extraordinarily generous grant from Dr. David Fromm. This grant is already having a deep and lasting impact on Centre Street and the families we help. On behalf of our board, staff, and most of all, the clients we serve, thank you Dr. Fromm for your generosity, kindness, and for sharing in our belief that none of our neighbors should go hungry. 

The impact of the One Big Beautiful Bill on SNAP benefits is beginning to be felt in Massachusetts. According to this well researched article from MassLive, about 160,000 Massachusetts residents that include nearly 60,000 children will no longer receive benefits from this federal food assistance program due to the Trump administration's restrictions. "As families lose access to SNAP, they often turn to their local food pantries, straining an emergency food system already pressed to its limits." The bill also requires that people complete confusing paperwork in order to receive benefits such that many who are eligible are not enrolled in the program, further increasing the number of people seeking out food pantries like Centre Street. The impact of the bill has been keenly felt in other states across our nation, as discussed in a recent episode of The Daily podcast from the New York Times. It’s important for the Centre Street community to stay informed on issues that increase food insecurity, and we hope that you share your thoughts with friends, family and elected officials.

We are not trying to rush into fall, but Thanksgiving planning is already under way at Centre Street. The year-end is very busy because it is a time when families who don’t regularly rely on us will visit to have food for their holiday table. Last November we served a record-breaking 1,350 households that included 5,265 people and we gave them Thanksgiving turkeys or roasting chickens and pies. We were able to serve so many with these special holiday items due to the financial support we received from compassionate local organizations and individuals. We encourage those who want to make Thanksgiving bountiful for people in need to make a donation to Centre Street before November so that we are confident we can buy holiday foods for all the families. A $50 donation buys a turkey and a pie! Last year one company provided a generous $5,000 donation for us to buy turkeys. Is your company looking to give back to the community this year? If so, please contact board member Andy Levine for more information.

If you want to promote Centre Street, at the pantry or around town, visit the Centre Street online store! Hoodies, t-shirts, active wear, mugs, hats - if you can put a logo on it, there’s a good chance we have it. A portion of each sale benefits the work you do at Centre Street. Thanks for shopping!