Today, November 19 marks the kickoff of the 3rd Annual Feed Brookline Drive to benefit the Brookline Emergency Food Pantry. Coinciding with the kickoff, the website FeedBrookline.org launched early this morning.
The site, donated and maintained by BrooklineHub’s parent company, Advanced Digital Websites, Inc., is a centralized location featuring information on local organizations and efforts to combat food insecurity. In addition to facts on hunger in Brookline, the site provides the convenience of processing online donations, 100% of which benefit the Brookline Emergency Food pantry and are tax deductible. Also found on the site are a ‘Wish List’ of items greatly needed at the Food Pantry, hours of operation, volunteering information, videos, photo galleries and news covering fundraising efforts by local organizations year-round.
Publisher Harvey Bravman commented on reasoning behind the site’s creation, “There’s been an amazing response to our annual Feed Brookline Drive. This year, we wanted to do more to help the Food Pantry and any organzations helping to fight hunger in town. The holiday season is a great time to raise awareness about food insecurity, but the need to put food on the table continues through the year. We launched FeedBrookline.org to be an ongoing presence before and after the Feed Brookline drive to help inform the public about efforts to feed our neighbors, volunteering opportunities and a way to donate.”
Feed Brookline Drive
Now in it’s 3rd year, the Feed Brookline Drive will run from November 19 to January 31. All proceeds and food donations are directed to the Brookline Emergency Food Pantry. Collection containers for money and food are rolling out throughout town. An ongoing list of participating locations will be published on BrooklineHub for the duration of the drive.
The recession continues to have a significant effect on families and individuals struggling to make ends meet and demand on the Pantry’s resources continue to climb. As a case in point, Brookline Emergency Food Pantry’s Manager, Rene Feuerman, explains that last year, the Pantry averaged 85 visits-by-clients per week. This year, that number increased 110 on average.
Last year, close to $20,000 and 76 bags of food were collected for the Brookline Emergency Food Pantry as a result of the Drive and a Benefit Dinner held at The Fireplace. This year, the drive includes plans for more fundraising events as the response to the Fireplace’s dinner was overwhelmingly positive.
By Catie Hayes, Editor
