Whole Foods Market Helps Seniors, Families in Need;
Hosts Food Drive to Benefit ABCD West End Food Pantry
Shoppers May Contribute to “Wish List” to Combat Hunger
on Saturday, January 8 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.
Shoppers at Whole Foods Market at Charles River Plaza, Boston, now have the opportunity to participate in an innovative approach to ensuring that West End neighborhood seniors on fixed incomes and others struggling in the current harsh economy have nutritious, appealing food on their tables.
The novel “Wish List” food program will help to stock the ABCD West End Food Pantry located inside the West End Public Library at 151 Cambridge Street. The demand for food at the pantry has skyrocketed in recent months and staff members from Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD) are working with nearby Whole Foods Market to stock its shelves with healthy food for the seniors and families who depend upon it.
On Saturday, January 8 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., Whole Foods Market at 181 Cambridge Street, Boston, will have staff and volunteers from the ABCD North End/West End NSC distributing a “Wish List” to customers entering the store. The list is based on items that are frequently requested and that contribute to healthy nutrition. Shoppers are asked to consider purchasing one or more of the items from the list and then to leave donations with the ABCD crew on their way out of the store. The “Wish List” items will be highlighted on the shelves to make choices easy to find.
Whole Foods Market will also donate $500 worth of food from the “Wish List” which includes items that last on a shelf such as oatmeal, rice, dry beans, peanut butter and tuna fish.
ABCD President/CEO John J. Drew applauded the generosity of Whole Foods Market for this creative, substantive donation to the ABCD West End Food Pantry and for their other community initiatives.
“Whole Foods is well known as a resource for natural, healthy foods and they also care about people and communities,” he said. “In the West End, and nearby North End, we have the ‘hidden poor,’ primarily seniors who are struggling to make ends meet on fixed incomes. They depend on our food pantries and, throughout Boston’s neighborhoods, requests for food are soaring. The Whole Foods Market ‘Wish List” program is a great way to boost nutritious food supplies and we hope shoppers will be enthusiastic about it! We are very grateful to Whole Foods Market for stepping up to the plate to provide hunger relief for those in need.”
ABCD staff members will also be handing out information on West End Center services and answering questions from community members.
About Whole Foods Market® Founded in 1980 in Austin, Texas, Whole Foods Market (www.wholefoodsmarket.com), a leader in the natural and organic foods industry and America’s first national certified organic grocer, was named “America’s Healthiest Grocery Store” in 2008 by Health magazine. The Whole Foods Market motto, “Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet”™ captures the company’s mission to find success in customer satisfaction and wellness, employee excellence and happiness, enhanced shareholder value, community support and environmental improvement. Thanks to its 53,000 Team Members, Whole Foods Market has been ranked as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” in America by FORTUNE magazine for 12 consecutive years. In fiscal year 2008, the company had sales of $8 billion and currently has more than 275 stores in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Whole Foods Market, Fresh & WildTM, and Harry’s Farmers Market® are trademarks owned by Whole Foods Market IP, LP. Wild Oats® and Capers Community MarketTM are trademarks owned by Wild Marks, Inc.
About ABCD
ABCD is Boston’s antipoverty agency and the largest human services agency in New England. It provides services through its central programs and 15 neighborhood centers including the North End/West End Neighborhood Service Center with offices at One Michelangelo Place and 151 Cambridge Street.
