Since 1982, the Boston Food Pantry has addressed food and nutrition insecurity across Greater Boston. Beyond nutritious food distribution, their staff connects food with health, education and community well-being through partnerships with healthcare providers, schools, housing organizations and community-based groups. Through our onsite pantry, school-based programs, healthcare partnerships, senior services, home delivery and community collaborations, we help people access healthy food where they live, learn, work, and receive care.

Real Impacts in Local Communities

The Boston Food Pantry’s community partnerships are expanding access to nutritious food and improving the health of students, seniors and patients managing chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.

For Patients: Food insecurity increases the risk of diet-related illnesses. In partnership with Mass General Brigham’s Community Care Van, we combine monthly health screenings with medically tailored food packages for individuals managing chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease, helping connect nutrition support with health care.

Together, we distributed 166 medically tailored food packages through this partnership in FY26. The Boston Food Pantry is a proud member of Food Is Medicine of Massachusetts.

With our healthcare provider partner NeighborHealth, our East Boston satellite pantry provides medically supportive groceries to their qualified patient community. In FY26, this partnership served 14,796 households representing 43,156 individuals, leveraging NeighborHealth’s status as the largest community-focused health center in Massachusetts.

For Students: Since 2018, we have partnered with Boston Public Schools to support students and families experiencing poverty, hunger, and homelessness. In FY26, school-based programs served 4,620 households representing 13,006 students and family members, while distributing more than 17,370 meal bags through trusted school-based access points. Our partnerships included Boston International Newcomers Academy and the John F. Kennedy Elementary School's Homelessness Education Resource Network.

For Seniors: Working with the Greater Boston Food Bank, Next Leadership Development, and Foley House Senior Residences, we served 5,486 households in FY26 representing 14,895 individuals through programs that support healthy aging and improve food access among low-income seniors.

For Individuals & Families Facing Additional Access Barriers: Working with community partners including Project RIGHT, Newmarket Business Association, housing organizations, and others, we provided home food deliveries to 5,076 households representing 24,119 individuals who face mobility, transportation, caregiving, or health-related barriers to accessing food in person.

These new initiatives, combined with the compassionate work our volunteers and partners do every day, will expand access to healthy food across the Greater Boston region.