Page updated 02 May 2021; Burlington Presbyterian Church
“Do Justice, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly with God.” At the Presbyterian church in Burlington, MA, a commitment to food justice is an important, long-standing ministry of the congregation. This page highlights ways we’ve been involved in food justice and how you can be too.
We strongly support People Helping People (PHP), sponsor of the Burlington Food Pantry operated out of St. Mark’s Church. The pantry serves 150 to 200 Burlington families per month, ~550 people; there has been a 30% increase in food requests due to COVID-19. Of those served, 40% are children and 15% are seniors. Learn more about the Food Pantry and donate to PHP by clicking on their logo. Go to the People Helping People Facebook Page and scroll down to find currently needed items at the Food Pantry.
In this video, Jane McIninch, Burlington Food Pantry Co-coordinator and a member of our congregation, discusses the Pantry, efforts to keep everyone safe, program modifications, and fundraising in response to COVID-19.
Monthly Food Drive: We support the Burlington Food Pantry, with a monthly, contact-free, drive-by food collection in our parking lot the first Saturday of each month from 9-11 am. Drive up to the front door, pop open your trunk, and volunteers will collect your donation. Please only donate NON-PERISHABLE items that are not expired or opened. Look here for generally needed items at the Food Pantry. For most current need, go to the People Helping People Facebook Page and scroll down for updates.
Watch this short video on our relationship with two nearby Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) operations. You can read more below.
See Farmer Dave’s website for farm share dates, pick-up times and locations.
The Presbyterian Church in Burlington, MA partners with Farmer Dave’s CSA as a weekly pick-up site for Burlington and surrounding communities. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a partnership between a farm and a community of consumers, with no middlemen. Paying for produce upfront, consumers become “shareholders” of the farm’s harvest, receiving a share of the harvest each week during the growing season. Farmer Dave follows sustainable agricultural practices and has donated over a million pounds of produce to area food banks and pantries. Farmer Dave’s CSA is featured in this WCVB-TV segment on year-round farming in New England.
Our church is also a pick-up site for a meat and egg CSA operated by Lilac Hedge Farm in Holden, MA. The farm employs sustainable, environmentally sensitive, pasture-raised, humane practices without the use of added growth hormones.
Our congregation’s history of food justice ministry and advocacy was featured in the April 2021 newsletter of Presbyterians for Earth Care. Our relationship with Farmer Dave’s CSA was highlighted, along with the Burlington Food Pantry and other ways we have made food justice an important part of our work and witness in Burlington.
The Presbyterian Church in Burlington, MA has participated in Project Bread’s Walk for Hunger for many years, preceded by a “Blessing of the Feet” in our parking lot before the Walk. The walk is the oldest and largest community fundraiser for hunger solutions in Massachusetts! Always the first Sunday in May, Massachusetts residents—of all ages, backgrounds, faiths, communities, and cultures—come together to raise the issue of hunger and much needed funds to support solutions to hunger in Massachusetts. Learn more about Project Bread & the Walk for Hunger here.
This is the 53rd year The Walk for Hunger is taking place in Massachusetts, and the 2nd year the event will be Virtual as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
We are a Matthew 25 church. Matthew 25:31–46 calls us to engage actively in the world, so our faith comes alive and we wake up to new possibilities. The 2016 and 2018 General Assemblies exhorted the PC(USA) to act boldly and compassionately to serve people who are hungry, oppressed, imprisoned, or poor. Learn more about the Matthew 25 initiative by clicking on the logo.
Bread for the World is a Christian organization urging our nation’s decision-makers to end hunger at home and abroad. Churches and charities alone can’t end hunger; our government must also do its part. By clicking on the Bread for the World logo, you can send a personalized email to your representatives and senators urging them to support legislation to fight hunger.
A template with specific wording is provided which you can edit to personalize. Filling in your name and address in the form automatically addresses the letter to your representatives; you don’t have to fill in their names. You’ll need to have your full 9-digit ZIP code (e.g., 01803-2345) because zip codes can be split between more than one congressional district. You can look up your 9-digit ZIP code here.
Other Local, Regional & International Opportunities
The Dwelling Place is a soup kitchen in Woburn center at the United Methodist Church, 523 Main Street. Free hot dinners are prepared by members of local churches and organizations for individuals and families in need. Dinner is served three nights a week and everyone is welcome. If you have a PayPal account, you can donate by clicking on the Dwelling Place logo.
The Greater Boston Food Bank works passionately to end hunger across Eastern Massachusetts by providing neighbors in need healthy food and resources they need to thrive. Learn more about their work, with an opportunity to give, by clicking on their logo.
The Women’s Lunch Place, housed at the Church of the Covenant in downtown Boston opened its doors in 1982 to serve women a hot lunch in a safe welcoming place. They’ve grown into a vibrant, supportive day community open six days a week serving breakfasts and lunches, and providing other basic necessities and services that help restore dignity and hope. Last year they prepared and served 104,715 meals to over 1,500 women. Learn more about their work, with an opportunity to give, by clicking on their logo.
The Boston Food Justice Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) Program is a host site for the national Presbyterian Mission Agency Young Adult Volunteer program. Young adults volunteer for a year of service, learning, and community living with opportunities to deepen their faith, reflect on their vocational journeys, and learn how to apply their faith to issues of injustice in the communities where they serve. The Boston site focuses on food justice, simple living, and environmental sustainability. Each YAV is matched with a Boston-area Presbyterian church and a partnering community organization (food pantry, day shelter, garden, farm, etc.) where they serve around the common goal of food justice for all. Over the past several years our congregation has sponsored three Young Adult Volunteers. You can learn more about the YAV program and donate your support by clicking on the link above.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is a humanitarian organization delivering emergency food assistance and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. For its efforts to combat hunger and preventing the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict, WFP was awarded the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize. In 2019, WFP assisted 97 million people in 88 countries. Two-thirds of their work is in conflict-affected countries where people are three times more likely to be undernourished than those living in countries without conflict. Every year the WFP distributes more than 15 billion rations at a cost of about $0.61 per ration.
You can find 100 Bible verses about feeding the hungry at the Open Bible website.
In our commitment as a Presbyterian Hunger Action Congregation our congregation previously studied “Just Eating? Practicing Our Faith at the Table,” a 7-session curriculum exploring the way we eat and the way we live. The study (published by the Presbyterian Hunger Program) uses scripture, prayer, and stories from the local and global community to explore our relationship with food. You can download a copy of the study here.
