Did you know?
The Westborough Food Pantry opened in 1986 providing approximately 30 people with food. Each family was given 1 bag of groceries per week. Mostly single people or couples received the food.
As of 2023, the Food Pantry provides food for over 190 Westborough families for a total of over 500 people. Each family receives up to 4 bags of groceries depending on the size of the family. Typically we distribute 230-260 bags per week. Estimating that each bag weighs 15-20-lbs, averaging out to 4600-5200 lbs. of food per week distributed. That’s over 135 TONS of food per year! In addition to that, families also receive fresh meat, eggs and bread every week. We are also obligated to provide food for the homeless that are placed in Westborough hotels by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Clients are not given prepacked bags of groceries, they are permitted to shop and pick the food items of their liking.
Fortunately for us, Westborough is an extremely generous community. Every year, town-wide food drives sponsored by groups such as the Post Office, Boy Scouts, Girls Scouts, Appalachia Service Project, and WASA (Westborough Athletic and Social Organization) yield approximately 15,000-lbs of donated food. WFD Professional Firefighters Local 3070 purchases fresh vegetables for our Thanksgiving distribution. Local Donations from residents, religious institutions, schools, civic groups and businesses also provide us with food. Monetary and grocery store gift card donations enable us to purchase many food items as needed.
Last year we spent approximately $14,000 for fresh fruit and vegetables, $30,000 for fresh meat, $28,000 for bread and $18,000 for eggs. Additional money was spent on food needed to stock our store shelves.
We have a completely volunteer staff of over 86 men and women. It takes an average of 150 hours each week to purchase food, pick up and sort donated food and check expiration dates, stock the Pantry shelves, maintain our facility, handle administrative duties and staff our food pantry store.