The Harbour Opens New Food Pantry

Donors Generosity Alleviates Hunger

On June 26th at 11 A.M. the Harbour Youth Center opened the Miriam Kaba Community Food Pantry at The Harbour Youth Center, located at 68 Cumberland Street in Woonsocket at a ribbon-cutting event. The food pantry, which is made possible by We Share Hope and other funders, will provide nourishment to Woonsocket youth members of The Harbour, a program of Community Care Alliance (CCA), on a continuous basis.

CCA President/CEO, Benedict F. Lessing, Jr., made brief remarks noting that food insecurity is common in families served by The Harbour Youth Center. According to RI Kids Count 41% of Woonsocket families live below the poverty level. The food pantry will provide youth experiencing food insecurity with access to fresh and shelf stable foods to help bridge the ‘grocery gap’ experienced on nights, weekends and vacations. This project is made possible due to the funding provided by Stonelink Property Management, and Leadership Rhode Island.

The Harbour offers career building, job readiness, and academic enrichment programs, as well as individualized case management and clinical supports. Stump Evans, Director of Employment, Education and Support Services, who helped to procure the food pantry, said, “We see young folks come in every day, hungry. Food stamps have not carried their family through, so we have kids asking if we have any supplemental food. This is a game changer for our entire population of young folks in this city.”

We Share Hope is a volunteer-run nonprofit that redistributes surplus food in order to alleviate hunger. Stonelink Property Management provided $10,000, in addition to $5000 from the Papitto Opportunity Connection, "Transform RI" Scholarship that is managed by Leadership RI to provide secure shelving and food.  The Harbour staff will facilitate distribution of food.