A Community Learns Healthy Cooking With Your Support After moving to a new space with a large kitchen, the Beverly Bootstraps food pantry wanted to get its guests cooking healthier on a budget. Unfortunately, there weren’t enough appliances in the new building. That’s where The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) came in. Last year, GBFB partnered with BJ’s Foundation to distrib- ute over $100,000 in capacity-building grants to its member agen- cies across Eastern Massachusetts. GBFB gave $2,300 to Beverly Bootstraps to buy a new oven, dishwasher, tables, pots and pans. “It’s very liberating for us to have this equip- ment,” said Stephanie Tyler Smith, food as- sistance supervisor at Beverly Bootstraps. The pantry was host- ing cooking classes at Beverly High School but having this equipment on-site has allowed many more people to take the six-week-long classes. It also enables the pantry to hand out healthy food samples at Photos courtesy of Beverly Bootstraps distributions. Stephanie said those taking the classes are a mix of novice and skilled cooks looking to eat some- thing healthy. “A lot of people are there be- cause their doctors tell them to eat healthier. The cooking instructors give them the tools to make dietary chang- es, like cutting out sodium or sugar,” she said. Panera Helps Provide Healthy Hunger-Relief When Mitchell Roberts and David Peterman began supporting The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) in 2014, they already understood the importance of serv- ing people healthy food. The co-founders of PR Management, a com- pany which owns and operates 63 Panera Bread locations in New England, Mitchell and David understood the connection between hunger, proper nutrition and health. “Having fresh, high quality food is important for everyone. Healthy food helps people work GBFB.org/get-involved LEARN MORE AT Everyone has a role in ending hunger in our community.® 4 better, learn better and be active,” Mitchell said. PR Management is a GBFB Partner for Impact, one of the 150 businesses and orga- nizations that provide more than just financial support to GBFB. Through volunteerism, event sponsorship, in-kind donations and more, these organizations play a key role in helping GBFB achieve its mission. This summer, PR Man- agement made a $110,000 donation through their register donation program. Donation boxes are placed at the regis- ters of each of its 63 Panera Bread franchises, and as customers place their orders, restaurant employees encour- age them to donate. “GBFB is the biggest hun- ger-relief organization in our area. They can impact more people in need and maximize the benefit of our donation,” David said. Since 2014, PR Management has donated over $300,000 to The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB), enough to provide more than 900,000 healthy meals to people strug- gling with hunger in Eastern Massachusetts. Photo: Sarah Druss, GBFB corporate relations manager (pictured center), presented PR Management co-founders David Peterman (left) and Mitchell Roberts (right) with GBFB's President's Choice Award. According to Stephanie, many people try new foods and take nutritious food home they otherwise wouldn’t have if they weren’t able to taste a sample of it or learn how to use it in a cooking class. “Every person who’s taken the class said it’s changed the way they think about meals,” Stephanie said. Teen Shows Giving Back as Easy as Pushing a Button Samantha Frankel fell in love with volunteering at an early age, going to local food pantries with her father and brother as a child. This year, for her 18th birthday, the Newton native wanted to do something with a bigger effect on hunger in Eastern Massachu- setts. “I decided rather than centralizing on one pantry, I would try to help in a way that more places can receive aide,” Samantha said. “I held a Facebook fundraiser for The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) because I know the amazing work that GBFB does to support local food pantries and their communities.” Facebook allows users to create fundraisers for select charities. The service is free and 100 percent of the proceeds are given to the chosen cause. In two weeks, Samantha surpassed her $200 goal by raising $285 from 11 people. “Providing hunger relief is one of the most important things I can think of,” Samantha said. “I know every dollar counts, so I’m excited to be sending the amount I raised to GBFB.” GBFB has received $4,771 through 19 different Facebook fund- raisers so far this year—enough to provide the equivalent of over 14,000 healthy meals to people in need. To learn how you can start a Facebook fundraiser for your birthday, for Hunger Action Month, or for any occasion, go to facebook.com/fundraisers. 5 Moving Patients from Hunger to Health At The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB), we know that appropriately addressing food insecurity includes accurately identifying who experiences it. As a growing body of research shows that hunger negatively impacts the health of children and adults, GBFB recommends healthcare providers screen their patients for food insecurity and connect them with local hunger- relief resources. Our advocacy efforts took a major step forward this spring when the Massachusetts Medical Society passed a resolution at its annual meeting encouraging healthcare providers to screen all patients for food insecurity. “This resolution and the support of the Massachusetts medical community is a major milestone in our mission to end hunger here,” said Carol Tienken, Chief Operating Officer at GBFB. “We know it will take many different partners work- ing together to achieve this goal.” The resolution was initially proposed by members of GBFB’s Health and Research Team, which has managed relationships with ten health care centers in Eastern Massachusetts. Five of those centers have conducted food-insecurity screenings with GBFB’s help. Over 50 percent of patients at each center screened positive for food insecurity, more than five times the food-insecurity rate of the overall population Massachusetts. In addition to her Facebook fundraiser, Samantha created a nonprofit called TeamUp Boston to get others in the greater Boston area involved in group volunteering. Pictured here at GBFB in July.