Welcome Jeff Lemberg, Newton Food Pantry’s First Executive Director

This new position demonstrates the Board of Directors’ recognition of the tremendous growth the Newton Food Pantry has achieved in recent years and the need for a dedicated full-time staff leader to ensure the sustainability of this growth. Jeff will work closely with the Board of Directors to continue to implement the Newton Food Pantry’s strategic plan.

A resident of Newton for the last 13 years, Jeff is a seasoned nonprofit executive and passionate community volunteer. Jeff joins the Newton Food Pantry with deep experience in fundraising, partnership development, communications and educational programming. Most recently, Jeff served as the Director of Development for the One Love Foundation, a national nonprofit that works to end intimate partner violence by providing free relationship health education resources to young people. In this role, he helped forge programmatic partnerships throughout New England and led a team of Boston-area volunteers and other stakeholders to increase revenue for programmatic expansion.

Jeff previously served as the Executive Director of Boys for the Better, a nonprofit that used media literacy education to provide social and emotional skill training to male-identifying teenagers throughout Eastern Massachusetts. He has also worked in support of economically disadvantaged military veterans throughout Massachusetts. Jeff holds a Ph.D. in public communications and journalism, and served for many years as a Professor of Communications and Media Studies at Curry College in Milton, MA, and the University of Maryland, among other schools.

“Food is an anchor to so many cultures, to our shared identities, and to our connectedness to one another,” said Jeff, a father of two Newton Public School students. “I deeply believe access to nutritious and culturally appropriate food is a human right, and I am honored to join the incredible team at the Newton Food Pantry in helping meet this essential need.” 

With this new hire, the Newton Food Pantry will now have three full-time employees along with its dedicated volunteers, and is well positioned to efficiently respond to the growing rate of food insecurity in our community. 

“The Newton Food Pantry serves more than 300 households on a weekly basis, and the number of client visits and deliveries have increased dramatically in recent years. Our core of volunteer leaders have worked countless hours to meet this continuing demand,” said Regina Wu, President of the Board of the Newton Food Pantry. “We are embarking on an exciting new era as we welcome Jeff as our first Executive Director. Jeff is a proven leader who has excelled at building relationships within his community, and on behalf of the Board we look forward to working together to alleviate food insecurity in Newton.” 

Please join us in warmly welcoming Jeff in his new role. His official start date is January 2nd.