Nourishing Her Family, Empowering Her Community

When times get tough, Roxbury resident Jairalis Mercado turns to GBFB’s resources to ensure that her children—Mimi, 13, and Jeanalis, 14—are getting the nutritious foods they need to thrive. And with another child on the way, she’s grateful for any assistance her family receives: “Not a lot of people get the benefits they need, so I think the food bank is a good resource for the community. For me personally, I don’t get [SNAP]…I have gotten help from food pantries.”

For eight years, Jairalis has been both a client and a volunteer for the Mobile Market at her daughters’ school, Orchard Gardens K-8 Pilot School. A GBFB direct distribution partner since 2013, the school hosts a monthly Mobile Market that distributes high-quality, nutritious and free food to approximately 80-100 of the school’s families. Among the five schools in the program, it’s currently the only one located in Boston.

“We need to feed these people that are really in need—not just our family, but the rest of the people out there in the community, too.” — Jairalis Mercado

Volunteers like Jairalis are the lifeblood of Orchard Gardens K-8 Pilot School’s Mobile Market. To help serve the school’s low-income families, they assist in setting up a farmer’s-market-style pantry, allowing clients to “shop” from a diverse selection of fresh produce, dairy products and high-protein items. Jairalis’ family greatly values this variety: “[My daughters] love eating a lot of fruit and vegetables,” she shares, “It’s always important for a kid to have not just rice, beans and chicken, but fruits and vegetables, too.”

For Jairalis, volunteering at the Mobile Market is about giving back to the program that has helped her provide for her family: “I’ve just been helping in whatever way I can, and I think it benefits parents who can’t afford food…because I rely on the food pantry also.” With the help of programs like these, she’s determined to give her children the lives they deserve, “There’s help out there…but I still have to thrive and push forward.”