b"Catherine's MessageDear Friends, Your Support Gets Food to the Vineyard With the holiday season fastapproaching, we often look forwardto family gatherings filled with food.For the nearly 500,000 food-insecure people in Eastern Massachusetts,however, the holidays can be difficult. According to Feeding America, Massachusetts is the most expensive state in the country in terms of the cost of a meal, making the holidays even harder for our neighbors in need. During one of the toughest times of the year, The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) Hunger Free Holidays campaign provides healthy food to families struggling with hunger. Fresh, healthy food is in abundance at the Island Food Pantry. Photo courtesy of Island Food Pantry.There are many ways you can make a Often thought of as a vacation destination for the wealthy, Marthas difference in the life of someone in need.Vineyard is no stranger to hunger. One in 11 people on Marthas You can visit gbfb.org and start a HungerVineyard is food insecure, the same rate as the rest of Eastern Free Holidays fundraising team with yourMassachusetts. friends, family, or coworkers. You can also donate today to make an immediate impact. The cost of living over here is unbelievable, said Joe Capobianco, In this issue youll read about a retiredGood Shepard Parish director of food programs. couple in Hanson who are able to makeHistorically, The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) only played ends meet thanks to their local GBFB- a small part in providing food to those in need on the Vineyard. In supported pantry. Youll also read aboutrecent years, however, GBFB has become the main source of our work to get more people enrolled inhealthy food for the islands hunger-relief agencies by building the Supplemental Nutrition Assistancestrong relationships and expanding the agencies capacity to Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps),acquire, store and distribute healthy food. our efforts to provide hunger relief on Marthas Vineyard, and two youngIn 2018, we gave a $5,400 grant to the Island Food Pantry and brother s who understand the importance Good Shepherd Parish to purchase and share a new truck to pick of helping someone in need. up food at GBFBs satellite docks in New Bedford and Harwich. Thank you for your generous donationThis year we gave Good Shepherd $10,000 for an 8-by-12-foot and support of our effort to create aoutdoor walk-in freezer, to help store more produce and frozen hunger-free Eastern Massachusetts. items like Thanksgiving turkeys. Together, we can end hunger here.Because of this extra support, Good Shepard saw a 238 percent increase from 2018 to 2019 in pounds of food distributed from Sincerely,GBFB. The Island Food Pantry has seen a 60 percent increase in pantry visits this year compared to last, and has distributed over 140,000 pounds of nutritious foods and necessities from GBFB Catherine DAmato this year.President and CEOWithout GBFB we couldnt be doing this, Joe said. Theres not enough excess food [on the island], at no cost, to take care of the people in need. Learn more : GBFB .org/what-we-do2"