This summer ABCD has expanded its food security efforts to make sure all families have their nutritional needs met.
In the Boston Public Schools 78% of all students qualify for free or reduced breakfast and lunch. Many families depend on these meals to provide their children with proper nutrition during the school year, leaving them vulnerable during the summer months. To help fill the gap, ABCD has partnered with the City of Boston and Project Bread for the Summer Eats program to provide all children, up to age 18, with free breakfast and lunch at the ABCD Dorchester and Parker Hill/ Fenway Neighborhood Service Centers. If you know a young person in need of a healthy meal, citywide Summer Eats sites can be found here.
Building Impact, a nonprofit organization that works to mobilize volunteers in partnership with nonprofits and schools, partnered with the Parker Hill/Fenway NSC to support the food pantry. Building Impact organizes food drives at a number of corporate partners in Greater Boston by coordinating all logistics – from the marketing materials, to collection bins, to the pick-up and delivery of donations. These efforts are focused in the summer months when families are challenged to meet the nutritional needs of their entire household when children don’t have access to meals and snacks at school.
At the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Service Centers, the Jamaica Plain Whole Foods organized special summer deliveries of produce to the JP NSC food pantry. Fresh produce is often one of the hardest goods to stock in food pantries due to the price and need for refrigeration. The donations from Whole Foods are coordinated to arrive on food pantry distribution days to limit the need for storage and get the produce directly into the hands of ABCD clients.
ABCD is grateful for the support of Project Bread, Building Impact, and Whole Foods for their donations in making these initiatives a possibility.