BOSTON — Eastern Bank Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Boston-based Eastern Bank, announced on Tuesday that organizations on the North Shore that focus on food-insecurity issues received $15,000 worth of COVID-19 grants.
Three separate $5,000 grants were given to St. Stephen’s Food Pantry in Lynn, Good Hope Foods at Calvary Christian Church in Lynnfield, and St. John The Evangelist Church Food Pantry in Swampscott.
These grants are part of a $280,000 award to food-insecurity organizations in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. In Massachusetts, grant recipients provide food assistance across the North Shore, South Shore, Boston, Cape Cod, Merrimack Valley and the MetroWest. In New Hampshire, grant recipients serve communities in Dover, Concord, Manchester and Portsmouth.
Eastern Bank Foundation President and CEO Nancy Huntington Stager said the grants help those who struggle with food insecurity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She hopes the grants will help communities provide nutritional meals to families in need.
“No one should have to go to bed hungry, and so many more people are struggling to get enough food to eat as a result of the pandemic,” said Stager. “Working with many local partners, we will continue to do what we can to help eliminate inequities, and bring security and stability to the communities we serve.”
Created in 1994, the Eastern Bank Foundation operates across eastern Massachusetts, southern and coastal New Hampshire and Rhode Island.
Since the start of the pandemic, the Eastern Bank Foundation has provided COVID-19-relief donations to more than 665 community-based organizations — totaling more than $15 million. It has supported last-mile vaccination efforts, and provided aid to immigrants, the elderly, survivors of domestic violence, mental-health services, community health centers, food banks and pantries, multi-service providers and community foundations, early-childhood-development providers, safe- and affordable-housing providers and organizations assisting businesses of color.
“We thank the teams working on the ground to provide food assistance, especially now as winter begins and the holiday season is upon us,” said Stager.
