Friends of the Pantry –

I hope you enjoyed the Independence Day holiday and a little sunshine. Summer is officially underway! As you may know, Centre Street is conducting its No Child Hungry campaign again this year. We are very pleased to announce that it has already raised over $30,000 towards a $50,000 fundraising goal! That’s the amount we raised last year, and with your help we will raise the additional $20,000 to meet that goal again.

The funds go directly to providing families with children with more Kids Club lunch foods -- fresh milk, sliced bread, cheese, sandwich fillings, yogurt and fresh fruit. A recent editorial in The Boston Globe highlighted the lack of funding in Massachusetts to provide adequate food for children. We are one of many agencies and services that families rely upon because no single program or benefit is enough – not SNAP, not one visit to a food pantry a week, not federal or state funded programs. Families need them all - and they need us.

Please join us in our pledge that no child goes hungry this summer in the communities we serve. Our Kids Club Program runs year round, and we want to make sure that kids not only have great food this summer, but all the time. Please, donate today!

With enormous gratitude,

Rose

Photo Credit (image above right): Bruce Wilson

DID YOU KNOW... WE NEED TO FILL ALMOST 100 VOLUNTEER SHIFTS EVERY WEEK?

We hope everyone is able to take some time off this summer, to get away or spend some time relaxing with family and friends. But as people are enjoying some well-earned down time, we often find ourselves with gaps in our volunteer schedules. On weeks when you are here, please check the calendar at our new volunteer scheduling system, to see if there are slots you can fill. The work is fulfilling, the teamwork is fun, the mission is more relevant than ever. Consider bringing your family (children under 17 are welcome with a supervising adult for certain jobs/shifts) or ask a friend to join you. Not a big fan of the heat and humidity? We have indoor jobs, such as packing grocery and Kids Club bags. Thank you for helping us continue to serve our neighbors!

You can sign up for shifts, view descriptions of the various opportunities, and even track your hours with our new system. Sign in or register here.

Our next volunteer orientation is Tuesday, July 18 at 7pm.

Volunteer Orientation sessions offer new and existing volunteers a chance to learn more about Centre Street, and best practices on how to interact with those who visit us. If you would like to join the session, please register here. And if you have any questions, please reach out to Vikram Krishnamachari.

WE'RE A FOUNDATION FOR METROWEST GRANT RECIPIENT!

We have been selected to receive a $5,000 grant from the Foundation For MetroWest to support our Kids Club program. The foundation has provided over $16.5 million dollars in grants during the past five years. One area of their focus is hunger relief, with coveted awards for general operating funds that alleviate food insecurity.

Their award will allow us to keep providing the food that children want to eat and families want for their children. We now need to buy these foods to fill a Kids Club bag with breakfast and lunch items. Even with discounts, one Kids Club bag is expensive to pack and we give one bag to every family with children - more than one bag if they have three or more children!

We’re grateful for the support of the Foundation for Metrowest as we join them to improve the quality of life for children in the region.

RIDE FOR FOOD -

The excitement is building in the cycling world! No, not because the Tour de France is underway. It’s because registration is open for Three Squares New England’s annual Ride For Food! This fun event is taking place on October 1 and we are looking to grow Team CSFP this year. Please consider joining our team, and recruit a friend too. Last year, our team raised an amazing $43,439 to fight food insecurity, the third highest team total! We hope to repeat – no, exceed! – that fundraising amount this year. You can ride, walk or virtually participate in this terrific event. Sign up to join Team CSFP today! For more information, please contact Team CSFP captain (and Board President) Taylor Lies.

PARTNER SPOTLIGHT: BOSTON AREA GLEANERS

The onset of summer means that our seasonal share of fresh produce begins to arrive from Boston Area Gleaners. Every week we will receive three dozen boxes of produce from local area farms, including the former Stonefield Farm in Acton where Gleaners is located. Gleaners is a large operation making a positive impact all over Eastern Massachusetts as they rescue and source produce from many locations. They fill an important role in food relief, because 30% of all food grown on US farms is never harvested! (A “gleaner” is someone who gathers produce left behind by regular harvesters, hence the name of their awesome organization.) Boston Area Gleaners’ caring staff not only work in the fields but also at high tech gear set up in a barn so that many other agencies receive beautiful produce, sometimes right after it has been picked!

We appreciate our Gleaners share every week as much as their unwavering support for our other needs, such as picking up empty banana boxes and, most recently, bringing their truck to the Greater Boston Food Bank to pick up one of our 10,000 pound orders.

A special shout out to Jess Rivers, Agency Manager and Usha Thakrar, Executive Director for their commitment to ending food insecurity and their leadership at Boston Area Gleaners!

WHAT'S HAPPENING AT THE STATE HOUSE?

Congratulations to Centre Street’s Amy Less, who was chosen as a 2023 Commonwealth Heroine! While we recognize the invaluable contribution Amy has made to Centre Street, as Board President and longstanding volunteer, we are proud that the state of Massachusetts has also recognized her efforts.

Each year the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women partners with state legislators to identify women who make outstanding contributions to their organizations and their communities. Each legislator is encouraged to submit one woman from their constituency as a means of recognizing their invaluable efforts and extraordinary acts of service, who are making a big difference in their communities. “The Commonwealth Heroines are women who don’t make the news, but make all the difference in their communities,” said MCSW Chairwoman Dr. Sarah Glenn-Smith.

Congratulations, Amy, on this well-deserved honor!

MISSION MOMENT: YOU HAVE TO SEE IT

(submitted by Rose Saia, Executive Director)

The last Tuesday in June, I was outside speaking Spanish as needed, helping load grocery bags into cars and welcoming familiar and new faces. At the end of the day, we served a flurry of different people -- some arriving from work in landscaping trucks, healthcare professionals still dressed in scrubs, parents with sleeping children tucked safely in car seats, and even more parents with hungry children who immediately found a banana to eat from our produce bag! The families were sometimes large in size -- six to nine people -- and there were cars with multiple families in them that added up to a dozen or more people. Newcomers walked from the T stop and volunteers helped get them get exactly what they needed so they could carry home the food they wanted most.

Volunteers quickly began packing more produce bags, and then even more produce bags! Cold order bag packers and expeditors heard regular requests for more bags and cheerily appeared with them in minutes. The sidewalk was a flow of constant motion, with volunteers calling out to each other: “Size 5 diapers needed here,” “Vegetarian family of 7,” and, “Please ask that family if they would like more milk.” When the last car left just before 6pm all the volunteers pivoted to break down tents, put food away and clean up so that by 6:15, it looked like we had never been there at all.

Driving home, I remembered what I had seen. Images of smiling volunteers who waved goodbye to each other before they went home. The woman who had knee surgery and was limping, but picked up several bags of groceries for herself and her two neighbors. A woman who got out of her car, hands clasped together in gratitude and bowed to all the volunteers before she drove away.

It’s hard to capture the energy and spirit at Centre Street with words. You just have to see it. All are welcome!

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The Centre Street Food Pantry provides our communities consistent and

inclusive access to healthy food, with dignity and kindness.

We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.