TEENAGERS TAKE PART in the Bread of Life Walk at Pine Banks Park.
Published in the August 19, 2016 edition
MALDEN – You can help feed hungry neighbors with just a walk – or run – in the park.
Mark your calendar for Sunday, Oct. 2, for the 24th Annual Walk for Bread & 5K Run at Pine Banks Park in Melrose and Malden beginning at 1 p.m.
The event benefits Bread of Life, a local volunteer-driven, faith-based organization which distributed 1,030,000 meals last year to needy families and individuals in Malden, Melrose, Everett, Medford, Wakefield, Stoneham, Winchester, Saugus, Reading and North Reading.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s annual report on food security, nearly 10 percent of Massachusetts households struggle to provide food for their families, and 4 percent face “very low food security” – meaning actual hunger or a frequent lack of access to food. Project Bread, a Boston leader in fundraising and public policy around hunger, reports that “over 200,000 children in Massachusetts have a parent that earns less than $11 per hour, and nationally, more than 91 percent of SNAP benefits (aka food stamps) go to households with incomes below the poverty line.”
Bread of Life is there to make sure these families and senior citizens don’t end up going hungry. BOL, headquartered in Malden, is the largest provider of free food for neighbors in need in the communities north of Boston through its food pantries, evening meals, and outreach services for senior citizens and homeless families. “This is our biggest fundraiser of the year,” said Gabriella Snyder Stelmack of BOL, “We get such great support from local families, teens, walkers and runners from all over the area – people who want to have a real impact on hunger.”
Participants are invited to sponsor themselves or raise pledges from friends, family and co-workers. All registered participants will receive a free T-shirt the day of the event along with snacks and take-aways provided by local businesses. Top-finishing runners will receive trophies. Music & henna tattoos will add to the party atmosphere of the day.
Runners must register for $25 online in advance, or on the day of the event at noon.
Walkers should fill out a pledge sheet and collect your pledges. Turn them in at the Registration table on the day of the event at noon.
You can also register and collect pledges online, or download a printable pledge sheet, by going to: www.breadoflifemalden.org/WalkForBread.html
Registration begins at noon on race day.
Bread of Life (BOL) brings together over 500 volunteers from our 45 partner organizations and the community at large to offer free food to hungry, homeless, and isolated people. Services include evening meals held four nights a week in Malden; food pantries serving residents of Malden, Everett, Medford, Melrose, Saugus, Stoneham, Reading, N. Reading, Wakefield and Winchester; grocery delivery to senior citizens in public housing in Malden, Everett, Melrose, Medford and Wakefield; and food delivery to homeless families sheltered in local motels. BOL provides 1,030,000 meals a year for local families who are low-income, unemployed, homeless or living on retirement or disability fixed incomes. To learn more about BOL, please visit www.breadoflifemalden.org. Bread of Life is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization.
