2019 Chain of Giving
The holidays are about people and communities coming together. On Thursday, Nov. 7, our closest friends and supporters gathered at GBFB to unload and pass 500 turkeys—hand to hand—from truck to freezer, at our 14th annual Chain of Giving event.
Our perennial holiday kickoff, Chain of Giving symbolizes that we’re only as strong as our network of hunger-relief partners. That’s over 500 pantries, meal programs and shelters, plus thousands of volunteers, advocates and donors who help to support the nearly 500,000 people in Eastern Massachusetts who are food insecure.
We were honored to have some of our local government officials attend this event: Governor Charlie Baker, Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito, State Treasurer Deb Goldberg, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, Boston Police Commissioner William Gross, as well as many other state and local officials.
We were also joined by our generous event sponsors, Odysseys Unlimited, and our first ever presenting sponsor of Chain of Giving, Ocean Spray.
Gov. Baker, Treasurer Goldberg, and Mayor Walsh delivered remarks at the morning event, as well as Ocean Spray CEO Bobby Chacko, who spoke about his personal experience with hunger and his support of GBFB’s mission.
We are also extremely grateful to our food industry donors and partners. Without these companies, we would not be able to deliver turkeys to hungry families during the holidays. Thank you to B&B Trading Co., Big Y, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Broccoli Associates, C&S Wholesale Grocers, The Goldberg Foundation, Hannaford Bros., Price Rite, Roche Bros., Shaw’s Supermarket and Star Market, Simco Sales, Inc, Stop & Shop, Paul Wahlberg, Walmart and Wegmans.
Each year at this event, we present the Nally Award to a young person who has taken action to end hunger in their community. The Nally Award was established in 2006 and honors Danny and Betsy Nally who were just 8 and 6 years old when they started their turkey drive for GBFB.
This year’s recipient was 11-year-old Fei Yang-Sady of Concord, a young violinist who has raised money for GBFB at her violin recital for the past three years. At her most recent benefit, Fei collected over $1,400 in donations, bringing her three-year total to more than $3,000.
This holiday season, we hope our Hunger Free Holidays campaign will provide 14 million healthy meals to families across Eastern Massachusetts. The turkeys we moved at Chain of Giving is only the beginning. Consider helping today by making a donation. $20 will provide five people with a healthy holiday meal.
