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Friends of the Pantry –
Due to your immense generosity, we raised $271,947 in our Year End Campaign, exceeding our goal of $250,000! All of us at Centre Street are awed and grateful for your compassion, your dedication to our organization, and your support of our neighbors in need.
In 2023 we served more people than ever and the number of people who rely on us continues to grow. Your ongoing help allowed us to put fresh and nutritious food on the table for thousands of people every week! With this year end campaign result, we begin 2024 on a hopeful note.
Thank you for what you give. Every dollar, every act and every moment of time you give to our organization matters. Together we make a difference.
I wish you and yours a New Year of peace, sprinkled with moments of joy.
With deep gratitude,
Rose
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Hopefully by now you've seen our new website! | |
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If you haven’t yet seen our new website, we encourage you to check it out! The new-and-improved site is key to communicating our mission and connecting with clients, donors, volunteers and friends. It’s also a key foundation for our fundraising. Since its launch in the fall, we have seen an increase in food drive inquiries, and awareness from local companies, organizations and individuals. Plus, there's a great video to watch! Thank you again to everyone who was involved in this effort! | | | |
Seeking Business and Corporate Sponsors | |
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We are seeking business and corporate sponsors who want to partner with Centre Street Food Pantry. If your company would like to get involved in the local community and/or offer service opportunities for employees, we would love to hear from you. We have specific programs that a business can support or exclusively sponsor. We also can offer employee team building activities at your location or by volunteering at our pantry. If you work in a community we serve, or our mission resonates with initiatives your company supports, please contact Rose, our Executive Director. For more information, check out our website.
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Mission Moment: Patriot Way on Centre Street | |
It was an honor to have the support of the Judon family team and their compassionate generosity to help us tackle food insecurity! | |
Centre Street had a special Thanksgiving week volunteer, Patriots linebacker Matthew Judon! Matt personally donated 150 turkeys and provided much-needed muscle to hand them out. Always the team player, he brought his family and friends to help him - his daughter Aniyah (6) and son Leon (3), his brother Mark and friends Justice and Hannah. They worked nonstop with little Leon carrying turkeys all by himself! | | | |
Partner Spotlight: Dignity Matters | |
*CORRECTION: This month's Partner Spotlight is focused on Dignity Matters, not Hope & Comfort. Both are dedicated Centre Street partners. Please see the revised copy below. | |
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Each week, in addition to nutritious food, Centre Street gives out personal care items, which are often not covered by SNAP benefits. One of our valued partners for personal care items is Dignity Matters, which has been providing women's sanitary napkins and incontinence products to Centre Street for the past five years. Every woman in a household receives these when they visit. Moms and teenage daughters are so grateful! Needham-based Dignity Matters has a very inspirational story. The organization started in 2010 when Jeff and Loren Feingold asked that guests to their daughter’s birthday party bring children’s items to donate to a local nonprofit rather than a gift. The next year, when that nonprofit mentioned the desperate need for hygiene items, they founded Dignity Matters. It has since grown considerably: in 2023, Dignity Matters donated more than 3,000,000 hygiene items to children and adults. Thank you, Dignity Matters, for your partnership and your commitment to our community!
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Thank You, Karen and Risa! | |
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We would like to recognize the longstanding dedication, hard work and guidance of Centre Street Food Pantry Board members, Karen Allschwang and Risa Shames, who retired from the board at the end of 2023. Karen volunteered and served on the Board for 8 years as a member of the Operations and Finance Committee. Risa volunteered and served on the board for five years and was instrumental in acquiring grants, brought her enthusiasm and leadership to the Ride for Food, led the Governance Committee and was a founding member of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. Both Karen and Risa will continue volunteering at the pantry where you will likely find Karen packing cold orders during senior hour and Risa outdoors surrounded by produce! Thank you, Karen and Risa, for your many years of service and for your continued support of Centre Street’s mission!
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Thanks to all who walked, biked, and donated to our Ride For Food! | |
We’d like to thank everyone who participated in or donated to this year’s Ride For Food! It was a beautiful day and Team Centre Street raised an amazing $29,000 to fight food insecurity, the 5th highest team total. These funds go directly to helping food insecure families served by Centre Street. This is a terrific annual event, so if you weren’t able to participate this year, we’d love to have you join next year! The 2024 Ride of Food is scheduled for Sunday, October 6th. It’s always a great time for a good cause. | |
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Volunteer Orientation Reminder | |
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Have you attended a volunteer orientation? If not, you’re invited to join one in the new year. These informative sessions offer new and veteran volunteers alike the chance to learn about Centre Street's background, mission, and operations, as well as about best practices on how to interact with those who visit us. Starting in 2024, these volunteer orientation sessions will be held on-site at Centre Street. If you would like to join a session, please register here. And if you have any questions, please reach out to our Volunteer Manager, Meredith Madison.
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What's Happening - Food Insecurity News | |
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture published its “Household Food Security Report” in October. and the findings are worth sharing. According to the report, during 2022, one in eight U.S. households (17 million households) experienced food insecurity. It was a sharp rise from 2021, when the figure was 10.2%, or 13.5 million households. In households with children, food insecurity jumped from 12.5% in 2021 to 17.3% in 2022, an alarming 38% increase. These findings are in line with what we have seen at Centre Street the past few years. You can access the USDA report here.
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We're looking for new Board and Committee members! | |
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The Centre Street Food Pantry is always looking for people who can help us fulfill our mission and strategic goals, and bring new ideas and energies to our important work.
Board members contribute to the strategic direction of the organization, help us sustain and grow the pantry to serve even more people, and build practices that contribute to the long-term stability of the organization. Members attend board meetings once a month and we ask each member to additionally participate on a committee where members collaborate on projects that address our annual goals. We look for board members with experience and interest in fundraising, finance and non-profit management and leadership more generally.
If you are interested, please complete this form.
Interested in contributing, but not sure that a board position is right for you at this time? Please consider joining one of our Board Committees and see how we work! Committees seeking new members include: Marketing & Fundraising, Finance, Governance, and Operations.
If you have questions about our board or our committees, please contact Leigh Gilligan.
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We are always interested in what the members of our community are thinking and want to share with us. If you have any comments or questions about what’s going on at Centre Street or have words of encouragement, we’d love to hear from you! Please send us an email here. | | |
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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.
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