The Pearl Street Cupboard & Café has been a saving grace for Caryl and her son Jeremy, who eat there every day. The family lost everything in a fire in January 2017. They didn't have insurance. They were out in the cold, shelters had a waitlist, and they had no choice: "We lived in the car for 9 months," Caryl said.
For Caryl and Jeremy, it's been a hard climb back up. Eventually they each found housing through the South Middlesex Opportunity Council, but it's "just a room," not home. Unable to visit each other, they come to our café for breakfast, dinner and sometimes lunch.
"This is how we meet and get together," Caryl said as she shared a meal with her son this summer. "This is our quality time, Mom,” added Jeremy. That night they savored the three courses Chef Vicki had made for dinner: Broccoli cheddar soup, bread and butter, baked haddock, Boston baked beans, green beans, salted cucumbers, and—for dessert—ice cream sundaes. Friendly volunteers from a church youth group were serving the meal, and Caryl started to cry.
"All of us have hardships in life—some of us fall down a little harder. It’s been a hard time, but good people make it better for you," she said. "The people that work here, they’re the kindest people. They treat you normal, not like, 'Take this and go.' They’re special."
The United Way of Tri-County is kicking off our 2023 Feed-A-Family campaign, Stand Against Hunger, this month so we can continue providing food for clients like Caryl and Jeremy straight through the holiday season.
Donations will help folks like Frank, a disabled client at WHEAT Community Connections who lives on a fixed income. Between inflation, lingering effects from COVID and the high cost of living, an increasing number of neighbors like Frank are struggling to get by.
"I always saved my money because I knew these days were going to come," Frank said recently as he ate lunch at the WHEAT café. "I don’t know any senior that’s not having a problem."
Frank once had a good job working on aircraft transponders for Rockwell, and later owned a little print shop in Clinton. But now that he's 68 and trying to afford his medical bills and higher property taxes, he appreciates getting free meals at WHEAT.
"My lunch is good," Frank said. "I don’t know anybody that doesn’t like a Sloppy Joe."
Our food pantries and meal programs in Framingham, Clinton and Marlborough help hundreds of families and individuals every day, from the working poor to those who are homeless and those in the middle class who just can't make ends meet.
Debra lives in a luxury apartment complex in Marlborough, but don't let the fancy address fool you: She can only afford the unit thanks to a Section 8 housing voucher, and without help from our Marlborough Community Cupboard (MCC), her own cupboards would be bare.
"I'm sure most people living there do not know other people are struggling," said Debra, whose only income is government disability benefits. Her daughter, who lives with her, is unemployed. The only one in the family with a job right now is her teenage grandson, who works at Dunkin' Donuts.
Debra tries to stretch every dollar and do "whatever we can to get by." She grows tomatoes and lettuce on the patio and makes supper every night: "We have a lot of different casserole recipes and tacos, stews—things that you have leftovers too."
Debra comes to the food pantry every month and is happy to bring home meat, eggs, bread, milk and other staples, plus snacks for two teenagers with big appetites. Getting it all for free is huge. "It takes off some of the stress because there are so many bills to worry about," she said.
"I appreciate it," Debra said as she picked up groceries at MCC this summer. "It helps because food stamps run out way too fast now with the price of food. They don’t go nearly far enough."
Caryl, our client at the Pearl Street Cupboard & Café in Framingham, once worked as a nurse's aide in Connecticut so she now earns a pension, plus Social Security. But she has bills piling up for rent and medical co-pays. Jeremy works part time as a cook but doesn't earn enough either.
They come to the café, "even in the pouring rain," for something to eat.
"The food’s good, and we can’t afford food," Caryl said. "Everything is more pricey these days and it’s hard."
In the last 12 months, staff and volunteers at the Pearl Street Cupboard food pantry have provided groceries to more than 33,000 individuals, totaling more than 2.8 million pounds of food. The café, which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner five days a week, has provided more than 57,000 meals. Since the pandemic ended, 2,416 new people have registered for assistance at the food pantry, and we expect those numbers to continue growing.
MCC has provided groceries to 29,242 residents and distributed more than 1 million pounds of food in the past year. Since the end of the pandemic an additional 1,100 people have registered for assistance.
And WHEAT has provided groceries to 12,225 residents in need in the past year and served 62,591 meals from the café. WHEAT distributed 428,960 pounds of food in the same period, and since the end of the pandemic has registered 735 new families seeking assistance.
Since in-person dining resumed earlier this year at WHEAT and the Pearl Street Café, our tables fill up and seconds keep coming until everyone has enough to eat. The waitstaff is sometimes made up of Wegmans or Jabil Healthcare employees, or the local Rotary Club, or the same dedicated regulars, like Kelly Swan, Katie Heino, Wayne Hawkins and Annette Proudman at Pearl Street, or the Carr Family at WHEAT (thank you!).
Caryl raves about both the respectful servers and the food—especially mashed potatoes with gravy and Chef Vicki's cheesecake. "That was the best thing ever," she said. "It’s better than ice cream, better than anything. I hadn't had it in years. I said, 'You got any more of that?'
Donations to Feed-A-Family will support our three food pantries and meal programs throughout the holiday season, as well as our Thanksgiving turkey distribution. This September, please join us and Stand Against Hunger. You can also donate food, volunteer or spread awareness. To learn more or donate, visit www.uwotc.org/feed.