Centre Street Food Pantry Receives Grant Award From Cummings Foundation
Regional Food Relief Agency Will Hire A Program Manager To Expand Its Impact
Newton, MA – July 24, 2024 - Newton, MA - Centre Street Food Pantry, a nonprofit regional food relief agency located in Newton Centre, announces that it has been awarded a $120,000 grant through the Cummings Foundation’s 2024 annual program. Awarded over a three-year period, the grant will help to fund the addition of a Program Manager.
“Last year, two full-time staff oversaw hundreds of volunteers and sourced over 850,000 pounds of food, which we distributed in 55,000 bags of groceries,” said Rose Saia, Executive Director. “The Cummings Foundation grant will fund the hiring of a Program Manager so that we can expand our reach by developing and introducing programs to meet the diverse needs of those who we serve. It’s an honor to be selected to receive this grant, and I am awed by the example set by Bill and Joyce Cummings who give back by empowering nonprofits to make a greater impact.”
Centre Street Food Pantry is available to residents of Brookline, Needham, Newton, Waltham, Watertown and Wellesley, serving an average of 1,100 households per month that includes over 4,000 people. Despite exponential growth since the pandemic, with Centre Street now serving 20% more people this year than last year, the organization has held true to its mission to provide consistent and inclusive access to healthy food, with dignity and kindness. Its Grocery and Kids Club programs include culturally common pantry staples as well as a high percentage of fresh foods that include fruits, vegetables, dairy and enough frozen proteins for several meals.
Centre Street is one of 150 local nonprofits that will share in $30 million through Cummings Foundation’s major annual grants program. The organization was selected from a total of 715 applicants during a competitive review process. This year’s grant recipients represent a wide variety of causes, including housing and food insecurity, workforce development, immigrant services, social justice, education, and mental health services. The nonprofits are spread across 49 different Massachusetts cities and towns.
“Greater Boston is fortunate to have a robust, dedicated, and highly capable nonprofit sector that supports and enhances the community in myriad ways,” said Cummings Foundation executive director and trustee Joyce Vyriotes. “The entire Cummings organization is thankful for their daily work to help all our neighbors thrive.”
Cummings Foundation has now awarded $500 million to greater Boston nonprofits. The complete list of this year’s 150 grant winners, plus nearly 2,000 previous recipients, is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org.
About Cummings Foundation
Woburn-based Cummings Foundation, Inc. was established in 1986 by Joyce and Bill Cummings of Winchester, MA and has grown to be one of the largest private foundations in New England. The Foundation directly operates its own charitable subsidiaries, including New Horizons retirement communities, in Marlborough and Woburn, and Cummings Health Sciences, LLC. Additional information is available at www.CummingsFoundation.org.
About Centre Street Food Pantry
Centre Street Food Pantry’s mission is to provide our communities with consistent and inclusive access to healthy food, with kindness and dignity. The nonprofit regional food relief agency is open weekly to assist residents of Brookline, Needham, Newton, Waltham, Watertown and Wellesley. Centre Street consistently provides a variety of fresh food and essential items to all who visit and has created special programs designed to meet the needs of senior citizens and children. For more information about these programs and others, as well as current initiatives, fundraising needs and news, please visit www.centrestfoodpantry.org or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.
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MEDIA CONTACT
Dan Foley
Centre Street Food Pantry
d.foley@centrestfoodpantry.org
508-272-0017 mobile
Centre Street Food Pantry Announces Grant From Greater Boston Food Bank
Funds Will Support CSFP’s “No Child Hungry This Summer” Campaign
Newton, MA – June 25, 2024 - Newton, MA - Centre Street Food Pantry, a nonprofit regional food relief agency located in Newton Centre, announces that it received a $9,525 community investment grant from The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB). The grant funds will be applied to purchase new refrigerators which will have an immediate impact on Centre Street’s “No Child Hungry This Summer” campaign.
Through its ambitious No Child Hungry campaign, Centre Street will provide its clients with children an additional bag of fresh food suitable for children’s lunches each time they visit the pantry. The additional bag will include milk, sandwich rolls, cheese, deli meat, and fruits.
“The Greater Boston Food Bank’s community investment grant will help Centre Street give children fresh food for lunch this summer,” said Rose Saia, Executive Director of Centre Street Food Pantry. “We know that many families with children need and appreciate this healthy food, and we’re grateful that we have the support of Greater Boston Food Bank and all the generous donors to our No Child Hungry Summer campaign who make it possible for us to reduce food insecurity in the six communities we serve.”
Centre Street Food Pantry’s No Child Hungry Campaign is in its third summer and is a supplement to its Kids Club program, which runs all year long and provides an extra dry grocery bag of kid friendly food for breakfast, lunch and snacks to every family with children. More than 60% of the families Centre Street serves have children and the agency provides healthy food for approximately 1,400 children each month.
The grant award coincides with GBFB’s fourth annual report on food insecurity, equity and access in Massachusetts. The 2024 study, “Opportunities to Improve Food Equity & Access in Massachusetts,” reveals consistently high rates of food insecurity in the state and sustained disparities in food access for communities of color and households with children. The study estimates approximately 1.9 million adults in Massachusetts are food insecure, an increase from last year’s estimated 1.8 million adults, and that in 2023 one in three Massachusetts households with children reported child-level food insecurity, meaning a child went hungry, skipped a meal or didn’t eat for an entire day because there wasn’t enough money for food.
“GBFB’s network of dedicated agency partners continue to inspire us to be innovative in our efforts to address food insecurity across Eastern Massachusetts,” said Catherine D’Amato, president and CEO at GBFB. “With sustained inequities in food access across our region, we aim to continue to invest in those communities facing a heightened need for food and drive progress towards hunger relief through strategic grantmaking to our network of agency partners.”
About The Greater Boston Food Bank
The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) is the largest hunger-relief organization in New England and among the largest food banks in the country. As the food bank for Eastern Massachusetts, GBFB is feeding people in 190 towns across the region, distributing the equivalent of nearly 90 million meals through a network of 600 dedicated food distribution partners and programs. A member of the national Feeding America network, GBFB’s mission is to end hunger here. The organization remains committed to the belief that access to healthy food is a human right regardless of an individual’s circumstances. Through policy, partnerships, and providing free, nutritious, and culturally responsive food, GBFB is committed to addressing the root causes of food insecurity while promoting racial, gender and economic equity in food access. For more information and to help us help others, visit us at GBFB.org, follow us on Facebook, Twitter (@gr8bosfoodbank) and Instagram, or call us at 617-427-5200.
About Centre Street Food Pantry
Centre Street Food Pantry’s mission is to provide our communities with consistent and inclusive access to healthy food, with kindness and dignity. The nonprofit regional food relief agency is open weekly to assist residents of Brookline, Needham, Newton, Waltham, Watertown and Wellesley. Centre Street consistently provides a variety of fresh food and essential items to all who visit, and has created special programs designed to meet the needs of senior citizens and children. For more information about these programs and others, as well as current initiatives, fundraising needs and news, please visit www.centrestfoodpantry.org or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.
# # #
MEDIA CONTACT
Dan Foley
Centre Street Food Pantry
d.foley@centrestfoodpantry.org
508-272-0017 mobile
Newport Restaurant Group Donates $64,000 To Local Nonprofits Through 2023 Gift Care Program
Brookline Food Pantry, The Food Project in Dorchester, and the Centre Street Pantry in Newton Among the Recipients
(Warwick, RI) – March 28, 2024 – Newport Restaurant Group (NRG), an award-winning collection of unique restaurants and hospitality venues located throughout Rhode Island and Massachusetts, is pleased to announce that it has donated $64,000 to local nonprofits as a result of its annual, year-round gift card program, exceeding last year’s fundraising total by more than $4,000. Through the program, $2.00 from every gift card purchase is donated to area nonprofits fighting food insecurity. Since the program’s inception in 2019, more than $214,000 has been distributed to local agencies.
“So many of our neighbors face food insecurity on a daily basis, and we are grateful to the wonderful organizations in our region that work tirelessly to provide relief,” said Paul O’Reilly, President and Chief Executive Officer, Newport Restaurant Group. “We are honored to have the opportunity to support this work, and we thank our incredible guests without whom this donation would not be possible.”
The 2023 recipients include the Brookline Food Pantry, The Food Project, and Centre Street Food Pantry in Massachusetts and the Aquidneck Community Table, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, RI Community Food Bank, and Hope’s Harvest in Rhode Island.
In addition to the financial support, NRG employee owners volunteer with these organizations throughout the year in a variety of ways.
"Centre Street Food Pantry is so thankful to Newport Restaurant Group and their Watertown Bar 'Cino team for their generous financial donation,” said Taylor Lies, President of the Board of Directors at The Centre Street Pantry. “I was so impressed with their dedication to local communities, and it is clear they share Centre Street's values of kindness, service and gratitude. Their donation will have an immediate impact in our local communities where, sadly, food insecurity continues to rise."
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The 2024 gift card program is ongoing and gift cards can be purchased at any NRG property or online at www.newportrestaurantgroup.com.
Photo Caption (courtesy of Newport Restaurant Group):
Centre Street Pantry, Newton: Taylor Lies, President of the Board of Directors at the Centre Street Pantry (in green), discusses the initiatives Newport Restaurant Group’s donation will support with Bryan Parkin, General Manager at Bar ‘Cino Watertown (in brown) at a recent service day at the pantry.
About Newport Restaurant Group:
Newport Restaurant Group’s award-winning portfolio of restaurants are located across Rhode Island and include Castle Hill Inn, The Mooring Seafood Kitchen & Bar, 22 Bowen’s Wine Bar & Grille, Bar ‘Cino, and Smoke House all located in Newport; Celeste in Narragansett; the Boat House in Tiverton; Waterman Grille and Hemenway’s, both located in Providence; Avvio Ristorante located at Garden City Center in Cranston; Iron Works in Warwick; Papa Razzi in Wellesley, MA; and Bar ‘Cino in Brookline and Watertown, MA. Newport Restaurant Group’s mission is to provide the highest quality culinary experience in unique, service-oriented atmospheres and to create each menu with a creative, thoughtful, and responsible approach. Newport Restaurant Group is proudly 100% employee-owned. For more information, please visit www.newportrestaurantgroup.com.