Shiv Kumar Thakur, a student at Bristol Community College (BCC) in Fall River is both a recipient and a volunteer at GBFB's Mobile Market on their campus. Pictured here with Maurice Cyr, site coordinator at BCC. Catherine's Message Dear Friends, We all know how difficult it is to work, go to school, or do anything on an empty stomach. Yet that is a regular feeling for nearly 500,000 people living in Eastern Massachusetts. To help shed light on food insecurity in our area, and inspire action from others, The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) is participating in the nationwide public awareness campaign Hunger Action Month this September. We hope you’ll join us in our “Empty Plate” campaign by filling out the plate on the back page of this issue and posting a photo of yourself with it on social media, explaining what you can’t do on an emp- ty stomach. Inside, you’ll learn how GBFB is helping our partners purchase equipment they need to best serve their community and how individual GBFB donors like you are making a considerable impact by fund- raising on Facebook. You’ll also see how prevalent food inse- curity is in our region. In Fall River, the food insecurity rate is double that of the overall rate in the state. Your donation helps us get nutritious food to people like Marc in Fall River, who you’ll read about on page 3, and the many others in need in 190 cities and towns across Eastern Massachusetts. I thank you for your generous support. Together, we can end hunger here. Sincerely, Catherine D’Amato President and CEO GBFB.org/our-programs LEARN MORE AT Your Donation Helps Feed Fall River Nearly 1 out of every 5 people living in Fall River does not consistent- ly know where their next meal is coming from. The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) works tirelessly to deliver healthy food to as many of the more than 16,000 food-insecure people in Fall River as possible. GBFB distributed the equivalent of over 1.3 million healthy meals in Fall River over the last 12 months. GBFB works with 18 different pantries, meal programs, shelters and other partners in Fall River, in- cluding a GBFB Mobile Market at Bristol Community College (BCC). 2 “Students are struggling to pay things like car insurance, electric and somehow find a way to find money to buy food,” said Maurice Cyr, site coordinator at BCC. “And that’s why we get people coming out every month waiting in line for an hour, hour and a half, because they know they’re getting nutritious foods.” In the last year, GBFB distributed nearly half a million pounds of fruits and vegetables to sites in Fall River, including BCC, which has been a GBFB partner since 2012. Your donation helps us serve nutritious food to community college students and their families, like Marc, who went back to school to learn new skills to help feed his family (page 3). While attending classes at Bristol Community College, Marc heard about the Mobile Market run by the school in partnership with The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB). Every month, Marc and hundreds of other students attend a farmer’s market-style distribution at the school where each participant can take home 30 to 35 pounds of nutritious food—including meat, dairy, fresh fruits and vegetables. “It’s a nice thing to come down here and get a few groceries if you’re struggling,” said Marc, who has been attending the market for about year. “We cut back on a lot of stuff after I lost my job. This helps out now every month,” he said. “It’s a little less we have to buy when we can get vegetables like corn, pota- toes, celery, it all adds up.” Stories of Hope “Things are tough today for some people. And it hurts, people are struggling.” Marc, husband and student 3 Marc receives a box of healthy food from a volunteer at GBFB's Mobile Market at Bristol Community College (BCC) in Fall River. (Continued from p.1) Now Marc takes classes at college while supplementing his food budget at home. According to him, the food he gets from the Mobile Market usually lasts him and his wife a week or two. “I’m not the only one; there are other people in this boat,” Marc said. “Things are tough today for some people. And it hurts, people are struggling.”