GOLD2022

First Parish Newbury Food Pantry

Welcoming Neighbors in Need with Compassion and Respect

aka Newbury Food Pantry   |   Newbury, MA   |  Newburyfoodpantry.org

Mission

The mission of the First Parish Newbury Food Pantry is to alleviate the impact of hunger on individuals and families in the greater Newbury/Newburyport area and provide opportunities for community residents to help their neighbors. We supply healthy and nutritional food at no cost to anyone struggling to feed themselves or their families. We welcome our neighbors in need with compassion and respect.

Ruling year info

2014

Board President

Jane Merrow

Main address

20 High Rd

Newbury, MA 01951 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

04-2104184

NTEE code info

Christian (X20)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is not required to file an annual return with the IRS because it is a church.

Communication

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

The most recent numbers from the Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) show that nearly 5800 people in the communities we serve don’t have a reliable source of healthy food. Children in food insecure households often experience developmental delays and struggle both socially and academically. Adults who are food insecure are more likely to develop chronic health problems requiring more healthcare. Older adults are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity. After a lifetime of hard work, too many seniors find themselves torn between paying for needed medicine and purchasing food. Despite the hunger, only one in three adults use food pantries. Lack of transportation, embarrassment, desire for self reliance are major barriers to pantry use. We address these concerns by providing full delivery and pickup by appointment. We don’t require pre-registration and welcome all without judgement. In addition, our weekly calls to guests who can't order online provide a welcome community connection.

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

Distribution of Fresh and Frozen Food, Other Staples and Personal Care Items

The First Parish Newbury Food Pantry is 100% volunteer organized and operated. Our mission is two-fold: 1) to reduce hunger and 2) to provide opportunities for community residents to help their neighbors. With this model we have grown from our start in December 2015 in the library of the First Parish Church Newbury to serving 425-475 guests each Friday. The Pantry provides, fresh produce, frozen meats, bread, canned goods, personal care items, household cleaning products and pet food to all in need. Our model of neighbors helping neighbors helps build connections to people in need who are too embarrassed to ask for help. About half our guests are from Newburyport and another 25% are from Newbury, with the remainder coming from surrounding towns. Seniors comprise almost half of the guests we serve. Guests place their orders online choosing from among more than 200 items each week. We deliver 60% of our orders each week and call 110+ guests each week so they can place orders by phone.

Population(s) Served
Low-income people
Working poor
Seniors

The pantry is volunteer organized and operated. Our roster of active volunteers numbers 130 with about 80 people needed each week to prepare for and run the Friday pantry operation.

We convene a weekly meeting of board members to address operational issues and plan for the future. As needed we convene subgroups to address issues and opportunities in fundraising, outreach, volunteer management, building planning, food drive coordination and process improvement among others.

The Pantry has community-wide support which has been critical to our success. In addition to individual food donations, 12 farms, 14 food businesses and 17 service organizations and churches provide food for Pantry guests. Overall, about 30% of our food comes from these partners; we purchase another 5% from local groceries and the remaining comes from the Greater Boston Food Bank.

Population(s) Served
Adults

Where we work

Videos

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

The First Parish Newbury Food Pantry is 100% volunteer organized and operated. Our mission is two-fold: 1) to reduce hunger and 2) to provide opportunities for community residents to help their neighbors. We measure our progress weekly in terms of the number of guests we serve, the number of new guests, and the number of bags we distribute. We also track the number of active volunteers on our roster and the number of new volunteers each month. We track the food insecurity numbers provided by the Greater Boston Food Bank for the communities we serve. While we are too small to see them change based on our work, they do help focus our outreach.

How we listen

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.

done We shared information about our current feedback practices.

  • Who are the people you serve with your mission?

    Our guests are low income, working poor, retired seniors, disabled people.

  • How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

    To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve

  • What significant change resulted from feedback?

    We learned that including items in short supply on our grocery list raised expectations and then disappointed many who ordered the item. We now set expectations about the availability of low quantity items.

  • Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

Financials

First Parish Newbury Food Pantry
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

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  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

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First Parish Newbury Food Pantry

Board of directors
as of 10/22/2022
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Jane Merrow

First Parish Newbury Food Pantry

Mary Murray

First Parish Newbury Food Pantry

Glen Holt

First Parish Newbury Food Pantry

Irene Troy

First Parish Newbury Food Pantry

Susan MCKITTRICK

First Parish Newbury Food Pantry

Kathleen Kuhn

First Parish Newbury Food Pantry

Soren Richelsen

First Parish Newbury Food Pantry

Susan Blanton

First Parish Newbury Food Pantry

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 12/30/2021
info Candid has made improvements to the race and ethnicity options.

Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.

Leadership

No data

Race & ethnicity

No data

Gender identity

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Sexual orientation

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Disability

No data