Food Banks Stress Need to Help Hungry Mass. Residents Year-Round as Thanksgiving Nears

One after the other, hundreds of turkeys made their way from the loading dock to the giant freezer at the Greater Boston Food Bank, passing through the hands of several Massachusetts leaders.

Like a holiday passing of the torch, Gov. Charlie Baker handed turkeys to Attorney General and Governor-elect Maura Healey, who passed them to Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, who then handed them to Salem Mayor and Lieutenant Governor-elect Kim Driscoll.

The turkeys will be distributed by the food bank to families in need this holiday season. GBFB President and CEO Catherine D'Amato said the need is growing, beyond the increased demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, as people struggle to afford food with inflation.

"The increase has stayed up due to COVID, so individuals are still having a challenging time, and in such, we know that about one in three are going to find themselves needing food throughout the year, not just during holiday time, but this is the time where we talk to people and we are able to share with them why it's so important to give," said D'Amato.

The Greater Boston Food Bank provides food supply to 600 distribution partners in eastern Massachusetts. The Catholic Charities food pantry in Dorchester is one of them. Thursday afternoon, most of the shelves were bare.

Beth Chambers, vice president of basic needs for Catholic Charities in Boston, said the site served 200 people each day.

"What we are seeing is something that I have not seen ever before where we are going through all of our food very quickly," she said. "We're not turning people away, but we are still seeing as you can see here, we deplete the stock almost immediately."

The pantry will receive another food supply delivery on Friday. Volunteers will prepare bags of food on Saturday for the people who are expected to line up on Monday morning.

"It's been that way every Saturday since the pandemic. I don't and our staff don't see any end in sight with it," said Chambers.

"Food insecurity leads to or causes so many other problems for the family and for a young person, so we've got to get after it and address that," said Healey. "I think we need to build on some of the existing programs that are there to provide assistance, not just for food, but housing and also for electricity and heat, as we face this winter, so those are some of the things we are going to focus on and get after right away."

Asked about programs she sees as a model of how to address food insecurity, Driscoll pointed to Salem, where she has served as mayor since 2006.

"We've got a food policy council that is really working hard to address where we have, what we call food deserts, how we can make sure people are not just having access to food, but high-quality, nutritious offerings, and it's really coming from the community, closing that circle that we may be growing ourselves sourcing ourselves from Massachusetts," she said.

State Sen. Sal DiDomenico has been a partner of the Greater Boston Food Bank on addressing food insecurity.

"There are a lot of folks that are really worried and nervous and desperate for where their next meal is coming from," he said. "In the legislature, we are trying to provide school meals for all kids across the commonwealth, which we did in this session in our budget to universal school meals, so free meals for all children, breakfast and lunch across the entire state."

He said there are also efforts to close the "SNAP Gap." SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, a federal program that provides nutrition benefits to supplement the food budget of low-income families.

"There are 700,000 people that qualify we believe for SNAP benefits that were not accessing that, and when we think about that, 700,000 people across our state that are below the poverty level that really could use the extra dollars to buy food," DiDomenico said. "It's our responsibility as the legislature to find a way to make it happen."

Thursday, the City of Boston launched the Find Your Food Pantry campaign, encouraging residents to connect with their local food pantry to identify ways to contribute or volunteer. The city also announced that beginning Tuesday, Nov. 15, residents will be able to apply and learn more about SNAP benefits using a kiosk located within Boston City Hall.