Jonnycake Center Of Westerly Awarded $10K In Emergency Food Funds

Press release from The Jonnycake Center of Westerly:

Dec. 7, 2020

The Jonnycake Center of Westerly announced that it received $10,000 in emergency food assistance funding from the TJX Foundation. These funds will be used by the Center’s Food Pantry to feed and assist individuals facing food insecurity, especially amid job losses and reduced incomes stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Jonnycake Center of Westerly’s Food Pantry utilizes a four-pronged approach to tackle hunger:

· The Jonnycake Center of Westerly’s Food Assistance Program provides a week’s worth of food to local residents every thirty days, complementing other government programs such as SNAP. Ordinarily, nearly 3,000 residents of Westerly, Charlestown, Hopkinton, and Richmond, Rhode Island seek this monthly food assistance on a regular basis. Since March 2020, the Center has received a surge in new client signups due to economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in increased demand on the Pantry without a complementary ability to raise adequate funds. The $10,000 grant from the TJX Foundation significantly helps alleviate the challenge.

· When schools are in session, the Jonnycake Center of Westerly’s Power Pack Program provides nutritious meals and supplies to local schoolchildren in need every weekend during the school year.

· When schools break for the summer, the Jonnycake Center of Westerly’s SPLASH Program (Summer Program Looking to Alleviate Student Hunger) provides underserved children with a week’s worth of healthy breakfast and lunches every week through the duration of closure.

· The Center's seasonal Farmer's Market, offered weekly in the summer months, offers free fresh, locally-grown produce for Jonnycake clients and community members during operating season. Produce comes from the Community Garden in Charlestown, which was administered by Jonnycake Center of Westerly staff under a new agreement in 2020. In its first season under Jonnycake management, the garden sustainably grew over 2,600 pounds of produce that was harvested by volunteers and delivered to the Jonnycake Center of Westerly's Food Pantry and the pantries of peer agencies. Additional food for the Jonnycake Farmer’s Market came from local grocery stores and private donors.

“In this difficult time, the TJX Foundation came through as an invaluable friend in the community,” said Lee Eastbourne, Jonnycake Center of Westerly Executive Director. “This $10,000 grant lets our Food Pantry purchase up to 50 tons of food from the Rhode Island Community Food Bank and other partners, ensuring that our Pantry will remain well-stocked in the coming weeks. As more neighbors struggle to pay bills and put food on their tables, this wonderful assistance from the TJX Foundation goes a very long way in fighting hunger in Westerly.”

Find more about the TJX Foundation and its commitment to helping vulnerable families and children access resources and opportunities by visiting TJX.com.

For more information about the Jonnycake Center of Westerly, including its Food Pantry, Social Services operations, and public-facing Thrift Store, visit jonnycake.org or call (401) 377-8069.

This press release was produced by The Jonnycake Center of Westerly. The views expressed here are the author's own.