Is this holiday season shaping up as a replay of Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol” without the redemption and joy of that story’s ending? It looks that way from David Abel’s pre-Thanksgiving story of food pantries across Massachusetts (“ ‘I’ve never seen anything like this kind of need,’ ” Page A1, Nov. 25). We at Action for Boston Community Development are…
This holiday season is punctuated by unrelenting need – a need sparked by pandemic-induced job loss in neighborhoods already afflicted by poverty, health and economic disparities, and racial inequity. Children, families and seniors in Dorchester and other city neighborhoods can’t wait any longer for the federal government to pass virus relief funding that will keep food on their tables and…
Lines at food pantries and soup kitchens normally grow around this time of year, but the pandemic has doubled them, aid workers say. With an unprecedented amount of need, relief centers are pooling their resources to make sure everyone is fed, though it may not be enough. ICNA Relief, a Muslim charity in Roxbury, has started a delivery service for…
Thanksgiving looks different for everyone in 2020, and the ABCD North End/West End Neighborhood Service Center (NE/WE NSC) is no exception! The center missed having its annual turkey feast with all the trimmings, including visits from elected officials wanting to visit with and give gifts to their constituents. However, it still strove to provide a special holiday experience for all…
With temperatures in East Boston expected to dip into the 20s at night this week, and not exceed 50 degrees for the next few days many residents will find it hard to pay their heating bill this winter. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused even more uncertainty in the neighborhood as job loss, food insecurity and loss of income has become…
Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD) is urging senior citizens and families struggling during the coronavirus pandemic to apply for home heating fuel assistance as winter approaches. Last year, the non-profit organization helped keep the heat on for 25,000 households in the Boston and Mystic Valley areas through the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which the agency…
Life Science Cares Boston, a nonprofit group that raises money from the life sciences industry, has awarded $755,000 in grants to 27 social service organizations for a second year. The 2020 awards bring the collective member organization’s four-year total of donations to more than $3.8 million. Life Science Cares was founded in 2016 to combat poverty. In addition to its…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASENovember 13, 2020 CONTACT: Susan Kooperstein617.875.3619 Lee Phenner339.368.1140 HHS releases federal LIHEAP funds as COVID-19,unemployment expand need in low-income neighborhoods As the COVID-19 pandemic surges and cold temperatures descend on the region, ABCD encourages low-income individuals and families who are struggling to get by to apply for home heating fuel assistance. ABCD administers the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance…
Although the COVID-19 pandemic has prevented the ABCD North End/West End Neighborhood Service Center from offering its monthly celebrations and weekly Friday meals at its community drop-in center, the staff is putting a brand new kitchen to good use by cooking up and delivering meals. ABCD built the gleaming new kitchen thanks to a generous grant from the City of…
ABCD President/CEO John Drew talks about the organization’s crisis response to needs in housing and food, as well as the effects of the political stalemate in Washington over pandemic relief. WATCH NOW
