Announcing a new space to better serve 750+ children (and growing!)
The need is growing, and so are we. We have been able to keep up with the demand for the eight years we’ve been in operation, using “borrowed rooms” to pack and distribute meals, but we’ve reached a tipping point. Our new space will allow us to stabilize our program, reach more families, be more cost and operationally efficient, and continue to identify new ways to provide more support.
Here’s what our new space will allow us to do.
Stabilize the program
Three of our core packing center spaces will not be available to us for school year ’22. We were blessed to have the use of these rooms for as long as we have and are forever grateful to those who lent us the space.
Expand program to serve more students
As our program has grown, we have adapted to meet the increasing needs. We have seen a 25% increase over the last year alone. With food and fuel costs rising, we are hearing about more families struggling and we are now positioned to properly meet those needs.
Streamline process for food pick up and delivery
Today, we have multiple deliveries from vendors going to multiple sites and volunteer’s homes to then be redistributed. This process worked ok when we served only a few hundred children, but now our orders are thousands of pounds each, and we need a more efficient method of distribution.
Take in donated pallets of food
As a member agency of the Greater Boston Food Bank, we will now be able to take advantage of their free pallet program when they have items available that we use. In addition, if a retail establishment wishes to donate products to us, we can now take those as well. This will allow us to reduce our overall food costs.
Pilot programs to identify ways to provide more support
We have implemented our program in the elementary schools, and have expanded it to upper grade level students. This year, we are providing programs in 4 upper middle schools and plan to roll out to other schools once we have determined the best model. We are also working on other ways to further assist families such as partnering with other organizations to distribute food.
Thank you to the founders of our new space!
