Upcoming Closures!
The Newton Food Pantry will be closed on Wednesday, April 29 and Thursday, April 30.
As one of GBFB’s 600 partner organizations across Eastern Massachusetts, we benefit from their size, scale and purchasing power, which enables them to acquire and distribute fresh, healthy food at the lowest possible cost. The vast majority of the food GBFB supplies is made available to partner organizations for free through federal and state programs. Other staple foods, as well as specialty items and household and personal care products, are also available for partners to purchase at cost via their cooperative buying program. GBFB’s combined offerings allow the Newton Food Pantry to stretch its dollars much further than would otherwise be possible.
The Newton Food Pantry uses GBFB’s online shopping system to view the inventory available for selection, allowing us to choose exactly what and how much we need to order. Once orders are ready, GBFB works to load and ready the pallets in their 117,000-square-foot LEED-certified warehouse in Boston for pick-up or delivery.
It will come as no surprise that the volume of food that funnels through GBFB has nearly doubled since the pre-pandemic days. Unfortunately, GBFB is seeing what we are seeing here in Newton — hunger continues to persist for too many families, both locally and across Eastern Massachusetts. As Jonathan Tetrault, GBFB’s vice president of community impact and operations notes, “Hunger is not an emergency in that it is present every day.”
As such, the other key tenant of GBFB’s mission is to put awareness of hunger in the public spotlight and to advocate for change. They are a champion for hunger-relief efforts in Massachusetts as well as thought leaders amongst food banks and pantries across the country. (GBFB was among the first food banks in the U.S. to employ registered dietitians and develop a formal nutrition policy to ensure the foods they procure are as nutritionally sound as possible.)
With its 130 employees and a small army of volunteers, GBFB empowers partner organizations to provide enough food to families in Eastern Massachusetts so that those families can put healthy, culturally-relevant meals on the table each and every day.
“GBFB appreciates the relationship we have with the Newton Food Pantry and every single one of our partners all across Eastern Massachusetts,” says Jonathan. “Together we have the power to End Hunger Here!”