Interfaith Social Services Inc.

Vision:
An empowered community where everyone’s fundamental human needs are met.

Governing Principles / Values:
Promote an inclusive culture where our clients, donors, volunteers, staff and community partners feel the utmost dignity, RESPECT and compassion. COLLABORATE with other local organizations to form partnerships and foster a sense of community. Nurture COMMUNITY involvement through volunteerism. Act as conscientious STEWARDS for all donations that we receive.

Interfaith Social Services operates one of the largest emergency food programs in Greater Boston. Each year thousands of families and children depend on Interfaith’s programs to put food on their tables.

Our New Directions Counseling Center is a safety net for anyone living with mental illness or an addiction diagnosis. Most of our referrals come from other counseling centers in the region. Families and individuals are referred to our counseling center when they don’t have health insurance, when they have exorbitant out of pocket deductible plans, or when the wait time is too long elsewhere. Interfaith is there to make sure that no one falls through the cracks.

Interfaith’s HomeSafe program prevents homelessness for hundreds of people every year. We step in to help prevent evictions or the loss of a basic utility. We work with landlords and utility companies. We advocate on behalf of our clients, conducting budget counseling with them in addition to financial assistance.

Interfaith’s food salvage program rescues hundreds of thousands of pounds of food each year that would otherwise have entered the waste stream. We make sure that this perfectly good food makes it onto the tables of our food pantry clients instead of filling up dumpsters or the compost facilities.

Volunteers are the heart and soul of Interfaith Social Services. Our organization has become a regional center for volunteering and community engagement. Each year hundreds of local volunteers from the community and from local businesses serve within our programs. Over 20,000 hours of service are given each year. This grassroots support allows us to focus our resources on our programs instead of overhead.

For the past seven decades our community has sustained Interfaith’s efforts. In addition to financial donations from individuals and foundations Interfaith has a robust diversity of funding sources:

The majority of our counseling clients do not have health insurance. However, a percentage of them do have insurance. The payments that we receive from their providers are an important source of income for the program.

Interfaith’s Bureau Drawer Thrift Shop has given the community an affordable option to purchase clothing and home goods for the past 40 years, it is also one of our most important fundraisers. The shop is entirely run by volunteers. This lack of overhead ensures that the proceeds go directly to funding our various programs.

Interfaith’s food rescue program not only salvages food from local supermarkets it also allows us to keep our food costs significantly lower than organizations that are serving a comparable number of clients, while distributing even more food to them.

We are supported by an amazing board of directors with a sincere connection to our mission. They are diverse, both racially and socioeconomically. Some of our board members have been program volunteers for decades and bring an incredible wealth of institutional knowledge to the team.

Since 1947 our organization has grown into a regional center for social services and community engagement. We provide assistance to thousands of local families every year. Our programs exemplify the ideal of neighbors helping neighbors; each year hundreds of community members, businesses and civic groups volunteer within our programs. They serve side by side to help their neighbors in need.

Over seven decades our programs were housed in various offices and venues around the city of Quincy, Massachusetts. Since the early 2000’s our programs have been consolidated at our offices near Quincy Center. We own our building and have made significant investments over the past 10 years including a new roof, new stucco exterior, new windows, etc.

Our programs have grown significantly over the past decade. In the past decade, we have seen the number of food pantry clients in need of food assistance climb from 10,000 per year to more than 23,000. In the same time period, the New Directions Counseling Center has gone from providing 1,900 counseling sessions to more than 2,500 sessions per year. As programs have expanded, the need for facility improvements has become apparent.

In 2019 we completed a capital campaign to: 1) purchase a new truck for our food pantry, 2) build a walk-in freezer and 3) add additional office spaces for our counseling program.

We see ourselves as ambassadors for our clients. Over the coming years one of our priorities is to tell their stories, be their spokespeople and help break down stigmas and stereotypes that prevent others from reaching out for assistance.

In the coming years we expect to expand our service area to include more communities in our region and market our services to communities that are underutilizing our resources

We would love to establish more passive income businesses to fund our services, much like our Thrift Shop. Perhaps a laundromat or other store where we could refer clients who are in need of services while also receiving income from regular customers who utilize the business.

We will continue to look for opportunities to collaborate and strengthen partnerships with more organizations in the community.