Boston gets into the holiday spirit at annual Food Bank ‘Chain of Giving’

Boston residents gathered Thursday morning to once again pass along a hundreds of turkeys for their neighbors and kick off the holiday season at the Greater Boston Food Bank’s annual “Chain of Giving.”

“What this does is help to bring awareness to folks, to be able to understand that hunger is a serious problem in Massachusetts,” said GBFB President and CEO Catherine D’Amato. “It’s a big problem, with one in three individuals facing food insecurity. That’s significant — they represent young people, college students, elders, military folks. They represent folks that are homeless, not homeless. People who own their homes. Quite a variety.”

Over 150 participants, including Mayor Michelle Wu, Lieutenant Gov. Kim Driscoll and the Wellesley Girl Scout Troop, gathered at the food bank Thursday morning to pass 1,200 turkeys from a delivery truck through the warehouse to be given to families in need.

In total, D’Amato said, the bank will give out about 220,000 turkeys and turkey parts, along with chicken and produce during the holiday season. But the food bank also hands out free food all year long, she said, emphasizing that hunger in the region is a 365 day-a-year problem.

Before the COVID-19, Massachusetts had about one in seven people hungry, the president said. Since the outbreak and still today, the state has about one in three people hungry.

“Our neighbors in financial distress are often having to make tough decisions between buying food or paying for housing, healthcare, or transportation,” said Driscoll. “That’s why our administration takes a community-wide approach to hunger and we work hand in hand with community partners like GBFB every day.”

The food bank also cut the ribbon on a new refrigeration unit able to store 400 pallets of perishable food. The new space funded out of ARPA money will allow the operation to distribute an estimated eight million additional meals each year and store much more protein and dairy, specifically eggs, D’Amato said.

The environment at GBFB on Thursday morning was lively and upbeat, with music going as the turkeys passed around.

One Wellesley Girl Scout wearing her green sash and the food bank gloves, 10-year-old Lais, said she came up with the idea to being her troupe to volunteer after talking about homelessness with her mom over the summer.

“I really liked it here today, and I really appreciate my friends and the rest of the troupe,” said Lais. “They’ve really helped me like, like support my ideas, and I also support them too.”