Newton is having its first food insecurity awareness week from August 22- 28, starting this Sunday at Newton City Hall. There will be both in-person and online events throughout the week.
Throughout the week there will also be a spice drive for the local food pantries – spices can be dropped off at any event in the Spice Drive Box or at the Newton Food Pantry (City Hall).
Love to help this program
Thanks to all who are supporting this effort. Newton has both a need for this, and at least three year-round food drives — in addition to those organized by Cub Scouts, Neighbors Helping Neighbors and other orgs.
The Centre Street Pantry (centrestfoodpantry.org) on Homer Street gets no city support and has seen increasing visits, serving thousands of families throughout the early pandemic upheaval. It accepts drop off donations and financial contributions online. Diapers and Kids Club items are listed on Facebook and website to guide your shopping.
To all who help, donate and volunteer, thank you for your generosity.
I’m interested in feedback here. I donate money to food banks vs drop off food items. Which path is considered the most beneficial / easier for them? I expect answers will be ‘either way’ … and that is fair. But if directly dropping off items is better, I’d be ok with shifting some practices on my part.
From what I’ve read, money is definitely better than dropping off most food items. Food banks can usually buy food less expensively than individuals can, plus they know what items are needed rather than getting random items.
My rule of thumb is that the only time I give actual items is when a call goes out for something specific, which is usually for non-food essential items such as toiletries, women’s sanitary needs, and the like.