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Helping Neighbors: Help neighbors access food this summer + big summer camp & a gardening thank you!

Dear Neighbors,


We hope you are well and are enjoying the beautiful weather these past few days. We want to take a moment to congratulate those of you celebrating with graduates this week! We are also grateful for your continued support. As we head into summer we appreciate you continuing to volunteer to support neighbors. Our food pantry delivery program alone is currently serving 62 families (242 individuals total, of which 112 are children). With the support of volunteers like you, we are able to make 200 deliveries each month to ensure that these families can access food from multiple local pantries. See below for a message of gratitude for supporting our summer camp fundraiser and three ways to address food insecurity in our community and thank you for all you do!


A HUGE Summer Camp Thank YOU!

It was back in the cold and grey days of February and March that we were raising funds for our beloved summer camp program. We have been silent until now but we are close to finalizing our last camp payments! Thanks to the $7500 you so generously donated, this means we are sending close to 30 Newton school students to summer camp.


You closed the scholarship gap, and students from ages 6 - 16 will attend at least a two-week summer camp at Newton Parks and Rec, SPACE Camp, and summer camps at Newton Community Education. Together we are helping students continue to learn, grow and stay healthy this summer. Thank you neighbors.


Bulk Food Delivery

NN’s bulk food delivery program is looking for short and long-term volunteers to join us in delivering fresh produce from local food rescue organizations to MetroWest and South Area food pantries. Help bridge that last link in the distribution chain and provide good food to so many who need it. Commitments range from once in a while to once every 4-6 weeks, or even more. Please reach out to us at newtonneighborshelping@gmail.com to volunteer or find out more.


Pictured: Car full of produce delivered by a Newton Neighbor to local pantries


Freedge

Every other Thursday volunteers from Newton Neighbors pick up and deliver food to the Freedge from the Newton Food Pantry and business partners like Sweet Tomatoes, Tatte, and Sandwich Works. Our volunteers ensure that the Freedge is clean and organized. If you’d like to get involved with our Freedge team, we’d love to have you on board! We have a bunch of slots available for July and August for the Freedge.


Here is a link to the signup: volunteersignup.org/4CD7T


Also, if you have food or personal care items to donate to the Freedge, you can drop them off anytime, directly to the Freedge at 420 Watertown Street in the parking lot of Central Drapery and Dry Cleaning in Nonantum or drop them off at 174 Oliver Road, Waban.


Pictured from L to R: Jennifer Pucci (Newton Neighbors Volunteer and Board President) and Elizabeth Stolar (Newton Neighbors Volunteer and Freedge Captain)


Food Pantry Delivery: Looking for Volunteers for June and July

We are looking for volunteers to help us deliver food from some of the food pantries in Newton to families who are unable to access the pantries themselves. We still have some open slots in June and we could use drivers for every delivery day in July.


Delivery usually takes about an hour to complete. You can sign up to deliver during one or more of the following times:

  • Wednesday afternoons from Newton Food Pantry, pick up food at assigned delivery times between 12-3pm.

  • The 3rd Friday of the month from the American Legion Nonantum Post 440 Mobile Food Bank, pick up food 9 - 9:15am (before the pantry opens to the public)

  • Tuesday afternoons in July from Centre Street Food Pantry, pick up food at 12 noon before the pantry is open to the public.


Pictured: Newton Neighbor loading her car to deliver bags of food to neighbors from the Centre Street Food Pantry to families (PC: Bruce Wilson)


Support the work of Newton Neighbors

Newton Neighbors is officially a 501 (c)3 organization. You can make tax-deductible contributions to us here. Thank you for helping us help our community.






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