Community Organizations as a Source of Food

With activities at community organizations shut down, many of our respondents have lost not only valuable social spaces, but also a vital source of food and supplemental income.

One senior, Blue, is a volunteer foster grandparent with over five years experience. She used to volunteer three days a week from 9 am to 2 pm at a nursery school in Roxbury.  With nurseries shut down, Blue is unable to see her “babies,” and she is also no longer receiving her stipend of $3 per hour. She relies on the stipend, on top of Social Security, to pay for rent and utilities. This month, she is unlikely to be able to pay her bills on-time, and she is considering ending her subscription to cable TV. 

Another senior, Nicole, used to engage in a steady stream of activities at her church and other community organizations. Each of these activities came with a free meal. With those activities shut down or moved online, she has to provide these meals herself and is having trouble making ends meet. Because she is a senior and can’t safely get out, she now has to rely more on a hodgepodge of deliveries from food pantries, other community organizations and her family members. Since food deliveries are inconsistent, she is skipping meals more frequently than before the crisis. 

Golden works three part-time jobs to earn less than $8,000 per year. One of her volunteer jobs, working with young children, would give her a $100 stipend every two weeks, which was just sufficient to cover gas for the month. That position has thankfully gone online but will end later this month leaving Golden without the stipend. Every Monday through Friday Golden has to drive all over Boston to access meal sites and buy groceries for her family but she doesn't know how she will be able to afford the gas to do so once the stipend is gone.  

In their own words:

“So the community had been like organizing a lot of stuff…[and]... every place had food so that was something that before the COVID, you didn’t have to worry about. Now, they are still having the meetings but the meetings are virtual so there is no food. There is no food for the people. So that took away that food option for people.”

Names and some details changed to protect confidentiality.