Project Bread
More than 1,600 virtual participants hit the pavement in their neighborhoods and rallied supporters to raise $1 million for the cause.
We need to start our story there, because without you, your help, and your friends, The Walk for Hunger would not be able to keep its strong pace for more than half a century. Thank you for 54 years of compassion and commitment to supporting hunger solutions in Massachusetts with us.
Above photo: Erin McAleer, President & CEO of Project Bread, stopped by the start of The Minuteman Trail in North Cambridge to say hello to top fundraiser for The 2022 Walk for Hunger, Saadia Ali with her father before beginning her 20 mile adventure.
We had about 100 more participants than in 2021! And we had over 660 new walkers this year. Welcome to the family!
As of May 2, 2022 we are on track to reach our $1 million fundraising goal for The Walk for Hunger.
The Commonwealth program, founded in 2019, shares 60% of a team’s fundraising with anti-hunger community partners of the team’s choice, with the remaining 40% going toward state-wise solutions.
This year, teams participating in The Commonwealth have raised $168,000 to date, and counting! 60% of which will be granted back to the fundraising organizations to support their local anti-hunger programs, including The Food Pantry at the Church of the Covenant in Boston, Rose’s Bounty in Roxbury, and Nourishing the North Shore in Newburyport, to name only a few!
35 anti-hunger organizations formed teams and fundraised as part of The Commonweath in 2022 - the most to date!
For the third consecutive year, the Lawrence-based nonprofit, Bread & Roses, laced up for The Walk for Hunger with their team participating in the event through The Commonwealth. To date, Project Bread has awarded $6,047 in grants to Bread & Roses through the Commonwealth.
"We recognize immigrants and people of color are disproportionately impacted by hunger due to economicinequity and health disparities—further exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis,” says Julia D'Orazio, Bread & Roses Development & Communications Manager. “With record unemployment, lost wages, and many having little-to-no savings to protect them from the economic impact ofthe pandemic, food insecurity has doubled to 1in 5 households in Mass. For Latinos, the number is nearly 1 in 3."
Project Bread streamed live on Facebook Sunday morning, May 1, 2022 to bring participants together online before they head out to put their own spin on their virtual participation. The one-hour program brought on special guests to illustrate to participants how their fundraising and support alleviates hunger in MA.
We left our marks all over social media with #WalkForHunger and tagging @ProjectBread
Walkers and teams across Massachusetts were featured in their newspapers and online news. The Newburyport News, The Patriot Ledger, and Patch.com are only a handful of news outlets where our walkers were featured.
Nathan Lamb and his canine running mate, Penny, pledged to run 100 miles for his team, Team Somerville-Cambridge Elder Services. The Malden Advocate featured the pair and their team. The goal was to raise $1000 for The Walk for Hunger, which they did… then passed it… then ran circles around it again. By May 2, the group raised nearly $3,000. Congrats! We’d say that was a good run.
Abi D’Amaro and her family and friends joined together for the team “Blisters for Bread.” With a goal of $5,000 ahead of them, they fundraised a little more than anticipated… striking over the mark of $10,000. "It saddens me to think about people not being able to afford to feed themselves and their families. The Walk is one way my family and I can help," D'Amaro said.
On Walk Day, the Harvard Softball Team played a charity game at Soldier's Field to benefit Project Bread. Project Bread Board Member and walker, Stacie O'Brien, even stepped up to the mound to throw the first pitch!
A big part of The Walk for Hunger is to make sure we implement policy solutions to permanently end hunger. We want give special thanks to:
Senator Ed Markey, Congressman Jim McGovern, State Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz, State Senator Diana DiZoglio, State Senator Jamie Eldridge, State Senator Cindy Friedman, State Senator John F Keenan, State Senator Jason Lewis, State Senator Joan B. Lovely, State Senator Michael Moore, State Senator Walter Timilty, State Rep Rob Consalvo, State Rep Mindy Domb, State Rep Kate Lipper-Garabedian, State Rep Adrian Madaro, State Rep Christina Minicucci, State Rep Jim O'Day, State Rep Tram Nguyen, State Rep Andrew Shepherd, State Rep Tom Stanley, and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey,
for their stalwart support in the fight to end hunger in Massachusetts.
Your donation to The 54th Walk for Hunger will help us grow and implement solutions to food insecurity across Massachusetts in the year to come so more families can access and afford food with dignity.
Donations and personal fundraisers will continue to be made through June 30, 2022.
The Walk for Hunger has deep roots in social justice—that’s because we know it takes more than food to fight hunger. After you hang up your sneakers from the Walk, join Victoria Martins, the Advocacy Manager at Project Bread, for a virtual Advocacy 101 training on how you can get involved policy work to make long-term, systemic change in Massachusetts.