As part of our yearly Gifts of Hope campaign, the Arlington Advocate is partnering with the Arlington Food Pantry to raise money for the organization. As you plan your year-end charitable donations, we will be bringing you a stream of stories throughout the holiday season about the pantry, their work and how residents can make a difference.
1. In 2017, the food pantry merged with Arlington EATS. The two groups worked closely beforehand and now use their merger to get a better idea of who they are serving and where there may be gaps in services. They are also able to purchase food for both groups from the Greater Boston Food Bank at $0.13 a pound, which helps their money go further. Arlington EATS was also able to hire a staff member to run administrative processes, like bookkeeping and payroll, already established through the food pantry.
2. The Arlington Food Pantry is on track to have 6,900 visits in 2017, which is more than double from last year. They serve roughly 400 families, which has also increased from last year. With the increase in the number of visits, it's obvious our families are feeling tighter squeezes on their monthly budgets and therefore need to access the pantry more often.
3. In 2017, Arlington EATS served over 22,000 meals. This includes vacation meals, summer lunches and community dinners. This is a 17 percent increase from last year. They're also on track to give out 15,000 snacks in all the Arlington Public Schools in 2017.
4. Both Arlington EATS and the food pantry will give out 370,000 pounds of food in 2017 and have 375 volunteers between the two groups.
5. The annual budget of both the food pantry and Arlington EATS is $212,000 and is completely dependent on donations. In addition to this financial support, the pantry receives about 300 bags of groceries from local groups and Arlington residents.
