We're planning for summer! :-) Fresh from the Pantry! April 2015 Spring happenings! THIS Wednesday night April 8, 5-9pm: Treat the Family! 15% of the proceeds at Fresh City on Needham Street benefit Newton's pantries. And remember that those good folk will donate 50 cents for every kid’s meal they sell---all week, all year! Take a night off from cooking and help all the pantries in Newton do their work. Head on over there! Sunday, April 26: NewtonServes project day We'll be hosting a team of volunteers to help us with our spring cleaning. You can sign up through the city's website here: newtoncommunitypride.org/NewtonSERVES-volunteer.php in the coming weeks. Sunday, May 3: 8:30am-1:30pm Help the Walk for Hunger without taking a step! Join us at the Newton Centre check-in table where we'll greet and cheer on the walkers as they head back to Boston. It's a fun way to help out a great cause. Each walker raises funds that comes back to help pantries like ours. Pick a two hour range and let us know! [email protected] Wednesday, May 20: Music for Food city-wide concert to benefit all the Newton food pantries. This event is part of the Newton Festival of the Arts throughout the month. newtoncommunitypride.org/festival has the details. Save the date! Last Monday of the month- come over early and help us unload a big delivery from the Greater Boston Food Bank. Email us for details: [email protected] You'll be glad you did. June: Stay tuned for a great shopping opportunity! Saturday, July 4 (I told you we were thinking ahead!) City-wide food collection ALL DAY at Ablemarle Field. We're preparing for summer already! We're starting to stock up for summer when families might need a bit of extra support with their kids being home for 3 meals a day plus snacks. We've applied for a grant which will allow us to offer families with children under 18 more than 2 protein items when they come shop. Keep your fingers crossed that we get that grant! Need Some Retail Therapy? The great Duchess Boutique in Newton Centre has offered to host a shopping night to benefit the pantry. Got a group of friends or coworkers who you'd like to invite? How about a celebration with your book club? Email us, and we'll put you in touch with the owners. [email protected] Would your Scouts or other group like to help? Let us know by emailing: [email protected] and we'll pass the word along to the Mayor's office. A hearty thank you to Aerus in Newton Highlands for helping us find a used vacuum for free! And to the Underwood community where the energetic and smart 4th graders are working on a school-wide food drive for us. Wow! What an impressive group! Headed to the grocery store? How about picking up some great healthy cereals for our shelves? Our shoppers appreciate variety as much as we do. Or help us keep toilet paper on the shelves. We go through 100 rolls each time we're open---it sure would save lots of time and money if we had your help keeping it on the shelf! To the Parish of St. Paul for 105 cans of soup collected this month! Hooray! And to Commonwealth Avenue's Blacker Bake Shop. Their donations each week make a big difference to our families. Stop by their new location (just down from the first one) and say hello from us! Does your closet runneth over? We always need handled brown bags! Tell your neighbors and co-workers please! Know a company that owns a small truck or cargo van? We're always looking for a partner to help with our Greater Boston Food Bank pickups on Tuesday mornings. Our current partner needs a break now and then! Let us know if your company or book group or school, church, temple, scouts, gym-mates.....would like to help [email protected]. Want to contribute? The Centre Street Food Pantry is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that depends on the generosity of the community to help provide groceries, fresh, and frozen items to dozens of families from Newton and surrounding communities each week. We opened our doors in 2011 and meet approximately 10 new families each month. Located at the corner of Homer and Centre Streets in Newton Centre, CSFP is one of three food pantries in Newton. Already donated? We're very glad you did! It's easy with PayPal on our website: www.centrestfoodpantry.org When you get there, click on the DONATE button on the left. We'll put the money right to work on your behalf. Thank you.