Our goals are to help our clients maintain their health and dignity and preserve the integrity of their families through the provision of culturally appropriate, home-delivered meals, nutrition education, and other community programs.
This year, we will provide 560,000 made-from-scratch meals to 1,850 critically ill individuals and their families. Our meals are medically tailored, meeting the nutritional and medical needs of our clients fighting illnesses like HIV/AIDS, diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis, and many others.
Learn MoreCommunity Servings offers nutrition education for individuals in the community who are nutritionally vulnerable and for clients who are no longer in need of our delivered meals. Led by our nutrition team, our classes teach clients and community members how to maintain and improve their health through the food choices they make and techniques they use to prepare food at home. This year, we will host 90 nutrition education classes with 1,125 attendees.
Learn MoreThe Community Servings Teaching Kitchen offers a 12-week food service job-training program, focused on those with barriers to employment. Trainees learn basic cooking skills, life skills, food sanitation and receive job placement support. Most importantly, trainees build their self-confidence as they work alongside our staff to help us prepare and deliver meals to the critically ill, giving their job-training experience purpose, and connecting them to the communities in which they live. This year our Teaching Kitchen program will serve 40 trainees.
learn moreAs one of the largest volunteer programs in the area, Community Servings welcomes an average of 900 volunteers per month to work in our kitchen, deliver meals, and help with our fundraising efforts. More than 55,000 volunteer hours are served each year!
Learn MoreRecognizing that local foods are generally healthier and more appetizing, Community Servings has launched a variety of local foods initiatives to benefit both our sick clients and Jamaica Plain residents, addressing the “food desert” in our urban neighborhood. We are committed to using fresh, local ingredients in our kitchen, and aim to support and collaborate with local farmers, fishermen and food producers. We are also excited to market local produce and fish to our neighbors, encouraging our vendors to donate their surplus food to us in exchange.
Learn MoreIn partnership with Heaven’s Harvest Farm of New Braintree, we sell and distribute CSA shares per season for the farmer. In exchange, he donates all his surplus produce to our meals program. This summer we were excited to inaugurate a new CSF, distributing beautiful whole fish to neighbors in partnership with Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association and Cape Ann Fresh Catch. Again, excess fish goes directly to our free meals program for our critically ill clients.
Recognizing the importance of fresh herbs to flavor our meals, we planted ninety feet of herb garden in partnership with The Growing Connection (TGC), a grassroots project developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). We use “Earth Boxes,” a high-tech growing system that uses less fertilizer and water than a conventional garden to grow our herbs, which are tended by local gardeners (and their kids!) seeking their master gardener certification.
