Feeding our Seniors Together

Access to nutritious food is critical to maintaining good health and quality of life for the senior population. For many, however, issues such as decreased mobility, fixed incomes and rising health care costs can make affording enough nutritious food a challenge.

The Greater Boston Food Bank works with over 600 partner agencies across our Eastern Massachusetts community. Like The Salem Pantry, many have programs that work directly with local seniors to provide nutritious food through pop-up pantries and home deliveries. While working towards a physical location to open in 2022, The Salem Pantry currently hosts mobile-only distributions. They visit several places every single week, including a free Mobile Market at Salem State University.

“COVID-19 exposed a chronic need, so we stepped up our delivery schedule and are visiting more places than ever before.” Executive Director Robyn Burns shares. The Salem Pantry recently established a partnership with the Salem Housing Authority and has begun to regularly visit senior housing locations, bringing food directly to a population at high risk of food insecurity.

Executive Director Robyn Burns continues, “It’s so important that we focus on the senior population and ensure they are getting what they need. Access to fresh food for our seniors is a big focus for The Salem Pantry moving forward!”

In addition to working with partner agencies like The Salem Pantry to expand the reach of the free Mobile Markets program, GBFB supports government programs for low-income seniors like the Commodity Supplemental Food Program.