Food insecurity is skyrocketing everywhere during this pandemic, and Newton is no exception. Our three food banks — the Arabic Baptist Food Pantry, Centre Street Food Pantry, and the Newton Food Pantry — are seeing greatly increased demand this year. Though we often associate donating to food banks with canned food drives and the like, monetary donations are actually much more helpful. These organizations often have arrangements that allow them to purchase food at great discounts, plus cash gives them the flexibility to provide what’s in greatest demand.
This holiday season, please help those in Newton and the Boston Area who face hunger. In addition to the Newton food pantries, you may want to donate to the Greater Boston Food Bank. As we forego large gatherings to protect the health of those we love and ourselves, let’s donate the money we would have spent on holiday celebrations to help those in need.
Well said, Meredith!!
Yes! Food insecurity in Mass is up % more than ANY state in the nation!! Demand at the food banks has doubled, and in some cities, quadrupled. Cash donations are the most appreciated at this time.
My daughter has a Project Bread fundraiser going and we are hoping you can donate and share. I’ll make it public on my FB page.
https://www.facebook.com/donate/415191262982752/791221338401624/
Thanks!
As a volunteer at one of those food pantries (not identifying which one because I’m not an official spokesperp), let me echo the message that the best donation you can make is monetary!
When you donate canned goods, it takes volunteer time to sort and assess the goods for use-by dates — I spent 2 hours doing so last shift, which were 2 hours that weren’t spent packing bags with already sorted, known-to-be fresh items that the pantry had purchased.
The need is real; we’ve more than doubled the number of people we serve each week.