Food Donation Bins

In 2022, the Melrose community donated 12,900 pounds of food through this program. Items from all collection points are delivered primarily to our two Melrose food pantries, Pantry of Hope at First Baptist Church, and A Servant’s Heart Food Pantry at Faith Evangelical Church. In addition, particular bins serve additional functions in the community:

The Beacon Hill Wine bin is monitored by our Melrose High School Post Grad students and their job coaches during their weekly Tuesday morning volunteer shift and delivered where most needed in Melrose.

The bin at Buckalew’s General Store was maintained by a rotation of volunteers in 2022 and delivered with weekly rescue to Pantry of Hope. In addition, The Food Drive partners with Buckalew’s staff to collect specific items for pantries, including backpack program snacks, birthday cake kits, leftover Halloween candy, and an urgent Thanksgiving request for cranberry sauce by Bread of Life. In 2023, the Buckalew’s bin will be tended by a local special needs volunteer and her advocates.

During Spring 2022, donations from the Follow Your Art bin specifically benefitted the Stoneham Teen Center of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Stoneham and Wakefield, providing healthy snacks for the middle and high school students in their after-school program. The Food Drive coordinated volunteers from Melrose High School for weekly deliveries to the Teen Center. The bin is now one of our ongoing collection points monitored by our Post Grad volunteers

The bin at Starbucks Melrose is maintained by our Starbucks volunteer pod of three regular rescue volunteers, who keep the popular Little Free Pantry on Derby Street in Melrose stocked with nonperishables.

Bins at the two residences also see lots of traffic, and donations are delivered during regular volunteer shifts to recipients where they are best matched and most needed.