How to Help : Advocate

Solving hunger in eastern Massachusetts will take social and political will, greater awareness and more resources. Please contact government decision-makers, and advocate sustained and increased support for hunger-relief in our community.

Play your critical role in ending hunger in our community by learning about the issues, and joining your voice with The Greater Boston Food Bank's to advocate for sustained and increased government support of hunger-relief efforts in eastern Massachusetts, the Commonwealth and throughout the country.

Here you'll find information and resources that will keep you up to date and aware of governmental action regarding hunger in Massachusetts. We encourage you to reach out to your local political leaders, to inform and engage them to help end the growing problem of hunger in our communities.

Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Program

The Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Program (MEFAP) has a proven track record going back to 1993 of providing much-needed food to the people of Massachusetts, and it currently supplies nutritious staples such as eggs, milk, meat and fresh produce to nearly 800 hunger-relief agencies across the Commonwealth.

Reliance on this state-funded program grew dramatically during the economic downturn, which caused a 23 percent increase in the number of people seeking emergency food assistance from hunger-relief organizations in Massachusetts. Food banks in the Commonwealth are now serving as many as 801,200 residents a year, and The Greater Boston Food Bank is now serving as many as 545,000 a year.

UPDATE: AUGUST 1, 2011

The Massachusetts General Assembly passed a FY 2010 budget that kept MEFAP funding level at $11.5 million for core food and $1 million for the administrative line item. The state budget was signed by Governor Patrick.

We thank those of you who contacted your government officials to advocate for hunger relief. Your work helped to keep this MEFAP funding from being cut. We hope you will remain engaged with us as we continue to work with our state and federal representatives on ending hunger in Massachusetts.

The following is a list of resources that you might find helpful in follow-up with your legislators.

The Emergency Food Assistance Program

Commodity foods supplied via The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), which is administered by the USDA, accounts for almost a quarter of the food The Greater Boston Food Bank distributes. These nutritious USDA foods are a key reason that The Food Bank has been able to feed more people during the recession and its aftermath.

However, a very strong market for agricultural commodities and cutbacks to the federal government budget threaten to significantly reduce the amount of food we receive through this program. A 20% cut in TEFAP would be 1,672,765 pounds, or the equivalent of almost 1.3 million meals available to people in eastern Massachusetts alone. While we understand the need to balance the budget, we do not think forcing low-income Americans to bear the burden is the way to do it.

Please contact your U.S. Senators and Representative to urge them to protect TEFAP so that people in need across our Commonwealth can have enough food to eat. You can look up your U.S. Representative and Senators at www.wheredoivotema.com. You also can reach them through the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202.224.3121.

Tell them that you are a constituent and provide them with the name of the town in which you live.

Here are some talking points:

  • Please support programs such as The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) that provide food assistance to hungry Americans. Please vote against any cuts to this program and please work to restore these funds. Cutting safety-net programs like TEFAP is not the way to balance the budget. Instead, I ask that you work with your colleagues to address the deficit while safeguarding programs that protect our nation's most vulnerable citizens.
  • The number of families struggling to make ends meet increased by 23 percent in the Commonwealth during the recession. With unemployment still high and the cost of food rising, the need for food assistance continues to grow. The proposed 20% reduction to TEFAP would result in 1.3 million fewer meals available to people in eastern Massachusetts alone. We need your help to protect this critical program that helps feed millions of Americans each year.
  • (Thank the person for taking your call.)

Additional Resources

Here are links to other organizations dedicated to the cause as well as links to elected officials throughout Massachusetts who may need to be alerted about a specific call for action at any given time in support of hungry citizens in our region.