Celebrating Our Partners at the 2025 GBFB Awards

Each year, The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) distributes nearly 90 million meals across Eastern Massachusetts. This enormous feat is made possible through the support of donors, volunteers, agencies, and advocates who help power our hunger-relief network.

At the 2025 GBFB Awards, Team GBFB honored the supporters who went above and beyond over the past year. We presented our honorees with their awards and came together to celebrate the power of our collective efforts to help our neighbors in need. As we say here at GBFB: Everyone has a role in ending hunger in our community.

Congratulations to all of our GBFB Award winners! Read below to learn more about this year’s honorees.

Transformational Grant Recipient: United Way of Tri-County

Transformational grants are multi-year commitments GBFB makes to high-impact Agency Partners that support the communities most in need of food assistance.

GBFB awarded a $500,000 Transformational Grant to the United Way of Tri-County (UWTC) in Framingham to help fund the purchase of new trucks to support food delivery to surrounding communities, and a walk-in freezer to expand capacity for perishable food. UWTC is a critical GBFB partner, serving as a Regional Distribution Site that helps bring food from the GBFB warehouse to many MetroWest communities.

GBFB Team Members of the Quarter

Since 2016, GBFB staff members have nominated their colleagues for Team Member of the Quarter. Team Members of the Quarter are employees who embody GBFB’s values and always lend a helping hand. Since its inception, GBFB has awarded Team Member of the Quarter 38 times. This year’s winners are:

• Trish Vallery, Senior Manager of HR & Administrative Services
• Adrian James, Warehouse Associate II
• Samantha Prescott, Agency Relations Manager
• Kristiana Le, Manager of Community Engagement

Change Maker Award

The Change Maker Award recognizes a young person or group of young people who are already making an impact in their communities.
GBFB honored Troop 64049 of Wellesley for the proceeds they donated from their Girl Scout cookie sales. In years past, the young troop members had directed their funds to help animals and wildlife, but when they learned that children in their community were facing hunger, the troop collectively decided to help. Troop Leader Judith Beswick and her daughter, Elsie, taught the girls about GBFB and facilitated their fundraiser.

Food Donor of the Year: Trader Joe’s

The Food Donor of the Year award is presented to a food donor that consistently supports our mission by donating food that helps feed our neighbors across Eastern Massachusetts. This year’s winner is Trader Joe’s, which donated over 1.7 million pounds of food through the Neighborhood Shares Program, reducing food waste while providing healthy, nutritious, and culturally relevant foods to the Eastern Massachusetts community.

Agency Partner of the Year: YMCA of Greater Boston

The Agency Partner of the Year award recognizes an Agency Partner that has gone above and beyond in fulfilling GBFB’s mission. This year’s Agency Partner of the Year is YMCA of Greater Boston, which has become one of GBFB’s largest partners, supplying food at nine YMCA locations across Boston and operating an additional 13 free Mobile Markets.

Advocate of the Year: Chair Christine Barber

The Advocate of the Year award goes to an individual or public official who has shown a strong commitment to the provision and protection of emergency food assistance and ensuring those struggling with hunger in our communities have enough to eat every day.
This year’s Advocate of the Year is Chair Christine Barber, State Representative for Somerville and Medford. For 10 years, Chair Barber of Somerville has been a leader in expanding access to healthy food, and she has been a long-standing supporter of the Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Program (MEFAP), a critical source of funding for GBFB and the coalition of Massachusetts food banks.

Volunteer of the Year: Paul Waber

The Volunteer of the Year award is given to an individual or company that has had a significant impact on GBFB through dedicated and loyal volunteering. This year’s winner is Paul Waber, who has been a committed volunteer since 2018. Since then, Paul has contributed 430 hours of his time. He brings a positive attitude and is a joy to work with.

Kip Tiernan Award: Dr. Regina Wu

The Kip Tiernan Award, named for GBFB’s founder, honors an individual or organization who demonstrates leadership in philanthropy and outstanding dedication to our mission to end hunger here.

This year’s Kip Tiernan Award winner is Regina Wu. Regina began her food insecurity work by volunteering at our free Mobile Markets and later chaired the board of the Newton Food Pantry. As chair, she secured the donation of land for a new pantry location and professionalized the Newton Food Pantry by hiring its first administrative staff. Regina continues her commitment to food security by serving on the board of Food for Free, another GBFB Agency Partner.

Corporate Partner of the Year: Delta Air Lines

Corporate Partner of the Year recognizes a corporation that has been an invaluable partner in GBFB’s work to end hunger here. This year’s Corporate Partner of the Year is Delta Air Lines. Since 2009, Delta Air Lines has supported GBFB’s work to end hunger here, and over the years they have steadily increased their commitment. They are generous sponsors of several signature events and campaigns, organize monthly small-group volunteer shifts in our warehouse, and hold an annual “Volunteer Day” every April.

Wall of Fame

At the end of the evening, GBFB CEO and President Catherine D’Amato unveiled our inaugural Wall of Fame, which recognizes the corporate donors who have made significant contributions to support our work.