By Susan Dana Lawrence
This season, rising food prices are hitting Bread of Life two ways: Its costs to feed the hungry are rising, and more people are hungry.
While hunger is with us all year, the cold winter months combined with holiday spending pressures can make access to nutritious food an even bigger challenge. For some this year, reduced government food assistance threatens to sharpen hunger even more.
Yet, Bread of Life is ready for winter. The nonprofit agency has coordinated food donation and distribution in Malden and surrounding communities since the early 1980s. Bread of Life partners with social service organizations, faith communities, city and state governments, individual volunteers, and food suppliers to feed thousands of people each year. Bread of Life reported feeding 76,100 households, including 157,000 individuals, in 2024.
Also in 2024, Bread of Life moved to its own spacious, modern building at 54 Eastern Avenue that offers the Malden Food Market food pantry; meals, open to all, four nights a week; and, in partnership with another organization, affordable housing with 14 apartments. Bread of Life’s additional, long-standing programs include nutritious “backpack breakfasts” offered to Everett schoolchildren; satellite food pantries; and holiday meal deliveries to people who are homebound.
Neighborhood View visited with Gabriella Snyder Stelmack, Executive Director, at Bread of Life to learn how staff and volunteers are gearing up for the winter.
On a weekday just before Thanksgiving, Bread of Life was crowded. Community members dropped off food drive donations. Volunteers sorted and stacked items from eggs to canned beans to fresh peppers, lettuce, and bananas. In the kitchen, more volunteers prepared large pans of pasta with vegetables and set up a tea and coffee station for an expected 50-70 dinner guests.
Staff and volunteers seemed to come from every corner of the community, including elders, young adults, several girls from Malden Catholic High School, and, at the end of the afternoon, an after-school group of young grade-schoolers with their teachers. One man who came from Stoneham to complete two hours of community service became so engaged in setting up the food pantry that he stayed for the rest of the day.
This winter may be especially tough on community members experiencing hunger. Higher food prices and decreased government support are two reasons.
Bread of Life relies mostly on donated food. But prices matter when the agency needs to purchase food. “There are items we need to purchase for the kids’ backpack program,” said Stelmack. “And the dinners we serve require bulk cans, fresh produce, and sometimes supplemental meat. For that, we have to shop.”
She added, “I’d say we spend twice as much for food as we did before COVID. That’s partly because the prices are higher, but that includes the increased use of our programs, too.”
The federal government is cutting SNAP payments that help low income families buy food. “The new rules are rolling out over three months, so we have yet to see the effects. We are likely to see it around January or February,” Stelmack said.
State cutbacks also hurt. Until recently, Bread of Life had a contract to provide food to families in shelter with the non-profit, Housing Families. When the state cut shelter housing last year, many families had to leave, and their access to food also disappeared.
With a constellation of programs reaching deep into Malden and Everett, with many services also open to people coming from Medford, Melrose, Wakefield, Saugus, and other towns, Bread of Life offers many ways for people to access food this winter.
Four nights a week, Bread of Life hosts free-of-charge meals, open to all.
The Everett Mobile Market, open every Thursday from 3:30 to 5 pm at the Lafayette School, helps about 200 households a week. Everett residents can apply in person and receive food that day.
Home grocery deliveries, on average 1,250 each month, go to elders through a contract with Mystic Valley Elder Services and to others who are unable to access food programs in person.
As many as 1,000 households a month obtain free groceries at the Bread of Life building, choosing their items at the Malden Food Market on Mondays and Wednesdays from 1 to 4 pm, Stelmack said. At their first visit, people apply for a member card and can receive food that day. They must come from one of the ten eligible Metro North communities to be eligible. If a customer isn’t eligible, Bread of Life will serve them that day and help them connect with food resources in their own town.
Bread of Life cultivates community relationships to bring food programs close to where people need them. “That’s one thing about the food system,” Stelmack noted. “It is very local. It has to be. If you can get to a place that’s right near you, that’s your preferable one to go to, right? The one that’s down the block.”
Immigrant communities have particular needs, Stelmack noted. Through its Food Access Project, Bread of Life helps people whose first language is not English obtain nutritious, culturally familiar food. Staff and volunteers translate information and educational materials into Chinese, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, Spanish, or Arabic and offer interpreter services for food pantry customers and dinner guests.
For food pantry programs, 95% of the food Bread of Life distributes comes from the Boston Food Bank. However, both food pantry and prepared meal programs depend on a diverse array of donors. Food rescue plays a key role, with grocery stores, farms, and other sources providing wholesome foods that can no longer be sold but remain safely edible and nutritious. Food drives by schools, civic organizations, and religious communities also contribute.
“The meals we serve rely on partnerships with groups and individuals, and many come year after year,” said Stelmack. For example, volunteers from the Church of the Good Shepherd in Reading have been coming to Malden for decades to serve Bread of Life’s evening meal.
Along with volunteer servers, Bread of Life has food preparation partners. Community Cooks is a nonprofit based in Somerville. Active for 35 years, Community Cooks organizes teams of cooks to prepare home-cooked dinner trays weekly for 36 food distributors, including Bread of Life. Another partner, Wildfire Catering in Woburn, delivers 100 meals a week for evening dinners–in large serving pans, as Bread of Life requested. The catering company receives $12/meal from grant funds; Bread of Life receives not money, but prepared meals.
Stelmack paused the conversation to take a phone call from Malden City Hall: How should the City handle calls from people seeking a holiday dinner delivery, after the deadline to sign up has passed?
Stelmack answered, “You can tell them, ‘Look, if there’s someone else in your family who’s in Malden that day, send them down to Bread of Life. Because we’ll do meals to go at the end of the sit down, and they can pick up a meal for you.’”
EATING WITH BREAD OF LIFE: Find locations and hours for Bread of Life meals and food markets. https://www.breadoflifemalden.org/how-we-help
VOLUNTEERING: Learn about applying to help on a regular basis or dropping in. https://www.breadoflifemalden.org/volunteer
DONATING: Learn how to support Bread of Life’s programs with food items, in person or via Instacart, or with money. https://www.breadoflifemalden.org/donate
Very good story. Gives information to many people who need the services.