Seven East Boston organizations were included in the latest round Boston Resiliency Fund grant money.
Last Thursday, Mayor Martin announced that Central Assembly of God Church, East Boston Community Soup Kitchen, East Boston Neighborhood of Affordable Housing (NOAH), East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, East Boston Social Centers, Eastie Farm and Fair Foods Inc. will share in this latest funding round–totaling $3.85 million in funding to 62 nonprofits in Boston.
Walsh said the organizations in this round of funding work to ensure access to food and other basic needs for Boston residents and to promote public health in the city through community-based outreach and engagement.
“The Boston Resiliency Fund has been an invaluable resource in our efforts to support the critical services that Boston’s nonprofits have continued to provide throughout the pandemic,” said Walsh. “This latest round of grants is our biggest yet, and serves as our way to support these organizations for all the work that they do and for providing essential resources to our community year-round. I also want to thank the Steering Committee for their steadfast commitment to and oversight of the Fund.”
According to the city, Central Assembly of God Church will use the Boston Resiliency Fund grant to continue to close the food insecurity gap experienced by Boston residents experiencing joblessness.
The East Boston Community Soup Kitchen will use the grant money to address the additional needs of their guests during the COVID-19 pandemic. The money will allow the soup kitchen staff to modify the way they provide meals by incorporating a take-out format and increasing its gift card distribution. The soup kitchen will use the funds to purchase items from food warehouses at a discounted rate to provide a good variety of food items to the soup kitchen’s guests
NOAH, the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center and East Boston Social Center, who have collaborated to form the “Stronger Together” team will provide nutritious food relief to Eastie households–including seniors and families. Their program will continue to purchase quality fresh produce and culturally appropriate dry goods from both The Greater Boston Food Bank and Costa Fruit and Produce in Charlestown.
Fair Foods will use this grant to sustain their weekly efforts at food distribution sites across the city and continue to grow its $2 dollar bag sites all over Boston. In addition, Fair Foods has enlisted new and expanded distribution partners, such as Maverick Landing Community Services (MLCS) in Eastie. These partners pick up food boxes at the Fair Foods warehouse in South Boston and conduct deliveries across the city.
Finally, Eastie Farm will use the funding to continue their work providing prepared meals, dairy, and meat to Boston residents and expand their outreach efforts.
In November the Boston Resiliency Fund paused the rapid response grant making it had been doing since late March of last year to evaluate how the Fund could best serve Boston residents with limited remaining funds. The Fund received feedback from its non-profit partners that there was still an overwhelming demand for food and other basic needs, like diapers, formula and hygiene products, and that there was a need for further education regarding public health guidance and the safety and importance of the COVID-19 vaccine. Prioritizing these two focus areas, the fund’s Steering Committee re-opened its grant application to any interested non-profit serving Boston residents. There were 137 applications seeking over $19 million in aid for this funding round. Since its launch in March of 2020, $34.5 million has been donated to the Boston Resiliency Fund and 377 Boston-based organizations have received over $34.1 million in funding.