New Worcester Food Pantry Opens For Youth, Adults With Disabilities

WORCESTER, MA — A new food pantry opened near downtown Worcester Monday serving young people and adults with developmental disabilities. The Grove Street pantry is a new offering from Marlborough-based Thrive Support & Advocacy.

Here's more from a Thrive news release:

Thrive Support & Advocacy, a nonprofit empowering youth and adults with developmental disabilities, today welcomed U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, other elected officials, representatives from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and special guests to open Flourish at Thrive, a food pantry located at its 100 Grove St. site.

“Community building is critical to our shared mission of ending hunger. Thrive Support & Advocacy and WPI are leading the way to find local solutions to the national problem of hunger by listening closely to what those with lived experiences need to access fresh, nutritious food,” said U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern. “Flourish at Thrive is the exciting result of their careful listening and dedication to helping their neighbors. I’m thankful for the work these organizations are doing to build stronger community connections through food, and I’ll do whatever I can to be wind at their backs to end hunger once and for all.”

Developed with the help of WPI students, who analyzed community need and created a business plan, Flourish at Thrive exemplifies the shared goal of the nonprofit and the university to help feed members of the local community, including the families of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

“Flourish at Thrive is an example of community partnership at its finest,” said Thrive President & CEO Sean Rose. “Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities face challenges and tough choices every day. Finding healthy food, often for specialized diets, should not be one of those challenges. We are thankful to the WPI community for helping us make Flourish at Thrive a reality and to Congressman McGovern for making sure the issues of hunger and food insecurity in our local communities continue to be a priority in Washington.”

“WPI students and faculty complete more than 400 projects just like this around the world, and in Worcester, every single year,” said Arthur Heinricher, Interim Provost and Senior Vice President at WPI, noting the university’s project-based curriculum through which all students complete professional-level research and design projects in partnership with sponsoring organizations. “The best of this work happens when we have a partner like Thrive that makes the critical connection to the community and to real human need. WPI is proud that our students have helped make Flourish at Thrive a reality and proud to have played a role in helping those facing food insecurity in our home, Worcester.”

In addition to traditional non-perishable food items, such as cereal, canned fruits and vegetables, soups, canned tuna, rice and pasta, Flourish at Thrive is focused on meeting the health needs of individuals served by stocking allergen-free, soy-free and nut free items as well as other items for specialized diets.

Also attending today’s event were state Sens. Ann Gobi and Michael Moore; state Reps. Dan Donahue and John Mahoney; candidate for Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell; candidate for state Senate Robyn Kennedy; Worcester District 2 Councilor Candy Mero Carlson; and Worcester District 4 Councilor, Chair of Public Health Sarai Rivera.

Flourish at Thrive is supported in part by grants from Point32Health Foundation, the Jack and Kathy Shields Family Foundation and The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts through its Activation Fund.