I agreed to be a Loader. A Loader, I was told, had to have the ability to lift at least 50-70…read morepounds for three hours. Naturally, I saw this as a challenge, and I accepted. The Greater Boston Food bank employs 14,500 volunteers and provides 19.5 million meals to 320,000 people in New England annually, not just Boston. Volunteers allow the GBFB to defer nearly $600,000 in payroll costs. Wow. Volunteers help in many ways, but mainly by inspecting, sorting and re-packing food at the Roxbury warehouse. Here is what my team accomplished in an afternoon shift: . Number of volunteers: 43 . Total pounds of food sorted: 10,412 (Ten Thousand Pounds!) . Total pounds of food salvaged: 8,330 . Pounds of food sorted per volunteer: 194 . Meals made possible per volunteer: 149 . Total meals made possible by NAIOP volunteers: 6,407 There are many ways to help. You can donate money. You can donate food. You can volunteer for a less physically demanding job. Just do something.

If you're looking for a place to volunteer, this is it. Good for singles or groups. Call ahead,…read moresign in, get ready to sort. Huge new clean place used to sort donated food. It's awesome. You get a rundown on food safety, what to look for, how the process works, then you're off to the main room to sort. It's actually kinda fun. And the facility is nice and new so it's definitely safe and good. Bonus - they feed you expired candy and crap after you're done! Yay!?

The Wakefield Interfaith Food Pantry is a non-profit organization run by Wakefieldians for…read moreWakefieldians. This volunteer association provides food to any Wakefield resident in need. They have a "supermarket" on the bottom floor of the Americal Civic Center where they host drop in hours. A personal shopper will help you choose your food and check out! It's a great place to get food if you need some, or to volunteer or donate as well. To learn more about it, check out their website and follow them on facebook. Wakefield is lucky to have such a great organization!

November 2021 my 95 year old mother became a resident at Sutton Home for Women. I have been…read moreextremely happy with the care that she receives. The staff is more than wonderful; they go out of their way to make the residents happy and comfortable. Whenever my mom needs assistance with anything, someone is always there to help. The director, Barbara, is a godsend; she has gone out of her way to help my mom adjust with her new living environment. Barbara has helped me with many tasks as I live in another state and can't always be available when my mom needs assistance. Mom says the food is delicious and frequently there are delicious home baked treats for dessert. I especially like that the residence is small and has a homey feel. When searching for a residence for my mom, I looked at many places. I believe Sutton Home was definitely the right choice.

I was a member back in 1978 same building and design hasn't changed. Actually, we got up on roof it…read morewas fun to run around up there. Good memories used to play bumper pool all the time love to go back and be 11 again. Donna ran the place she was such a lovely woman with genuine care for all the kids who came in. She did not tolerate any bullying by anyone.

The Boys & Girls Club of Wakefield runs the Community Boating rentals at Lake Quannapowitt in…read moreWakefield (kayaks and pedal boats) and Ell Pond in Melrose (kayaks) during the summer months. They have single and double kayaks available. The pricing is per hour and very affordable at $12 for a single, $16 for a double or the pedal boat. If you are a Wakefield resident you get a discount making it $9 and $12 respectively an hour. They also have a summer pass that is very reasonable. Everything runs very smoothly. You can reserve and pay ahead of time online - and probably can try to catch an hour in person if they have openings, but I would recommend making a reservation online ahead of time. I tried the pedal boat last year and went on opening day this year for the kayaks and plan to go a few more times this summer and maybe check out the Melrose location too. Both experiences have been great. They were prepared and ready for us when we showed up and were very friendly. When you get there and check in, you do have to fill out a waiver and get a life vest. They also have sunscreen available for if you forget to bring/wear it and need it. Make sure to wear clothes and shoes that you are comfortable getting wet because you will get a little wet. My one complaint with the pedal boat was that they did not flip it after the people before us so there was already some muck/water in the boat but it didn't ruin the experience and was not a big deal as we expected to get wet anyways, it would just be a small recommendation since those tend to get some leakage when out on the water. Overall, I really think this is awesome for the community and the boys and girls club and recommend that you support them if you want to get some local kayaking in during the summer!!

I called the Council on Aging to ask if they could recommend a tax accountant. Although they don't…read moreoffer any services, they did provide the information that the AARP comes to the Abbot Library each spring to help seniors with taxes. The COA's response was immediate and helpful.

My elderly father lives in Marblehead. Almost two months ago he contacted the COA for a lock box…read morethat emergency services could use if they ever have to enter his house. He still does not have the lock box. The COA did call him a while ago to check if he had gotten it. He told them no and they still have not had the lock box installed. Hopefully he won't need emergency services before COA gets around to doing their job.

The Torigian YMCA is a real asset to the community. It has a friendly staff that supplies great…read moreprograms at a reasonable price. There is something for everyone. My wife and I have been going to classes there for years. My wife was a Cancer patient. When she started to fail in her last months, one of the instructors took a personal interest in her. Introduced her to chair aerobics and a great class of supporters. This YMCA goes out of it's way to help everyone young or old. People of all ages and abilities. Come see what a real asset to the community looks like. You will be proud to be a part of it.

Me and my 3 year old son had fallen mind you I'm pregnant someone left the water running in the…read moreshower facing the toilet and my son and I walked in and fell my son hit his head on the shower thing and I have a bad bruise I asked the people if they do bathroom checks and they said no idk if I want to come back here again my son and I could've really been hurt I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone it was my actual first time being there with my son and now he scared of water and being near showers

Yep, I'm behind Trish's 30 second stop light hip hop stretch. haha.. I was also the one doing the…read morevisualization techniques.. "this isn't rain.. it's ocean spray from a sandy beach somewhere tropical"... this year. People were definitely troopers this year trudging through the downpour. I was rocking the hoodie underneath a rain jacket underneath a poncho. Communication this year was definitely ON (or maybe it always was but it finally reached me). Volunteers received a hand out that had several important numbers of team leaders, police, and who to contact when someone was lost. They did try to keep me and my friend longer again but s'all good. Those looking to be walk marshals (helping people cross the street basically).. definitely work out a plan with your team members. The police were kind of hiding out while it was raining super hard so we had to direct traffic AND walkers. This can be especially tricky/dangerous since the traffic lights don't always correspond with the walk signals (DOH!).

If there's one thing you must do each year, it's to support Project Bread in what they do. Proceeds…read moreare given throughout the Greater Boston area through pantries, food banks, kitchens, school breakfast and lunch programs and more! Annually, they host the Walk for Hunger and has been going strong for 40 years. 20 miles with usually over 40,000 walkers despite weather conditions shows that we as a community can truly come together to make a difference for a great cause. Especially one you can relate with especially in these economic times, hunger is a strong thing. We forget every day that there are those less fortunate than ourselves that don't get to eat or eat poorly. There are those who never thought they'd be asking for assistance, now on the other side of the fence. If you haven't already joined in the fight against hunger. Please consider joining our team. Last year, Yelp and SBS joined forces to bring forth over $8500 raised and made it to one of the top teams. If you can't walk, consider cyber-walk, volunteer, or make a donation. * Although a side note, I only wish Project Bread would stop sending me all the paper mailings between annual reports to various newsletters. I'd much prefer if it was all electronic in my e-mail instead. It's such a waste of paper and postage. Top Organizations at the 2008 Walk # Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts - $47,846.99 # Raytheon - $41,254.67 # Arbella - $35,008.50 # Teradyne - $25,802.00 # Phillips Academy - $16,465.00 # EMC Corporation - $13,368.50 # MIT - $10,230.82 # St Andrew's Wellesley - $10,020.81 # Oak Middle School - $9,905.00 # The Self-Defense Institute (TSDI), Tewksbury - $9,491.00 # Citizens Bank of Massachusetts - $9,389.21 # Temple Israel Boston - $9,159.50 # Harvard University - $9,009.00 # Social Boston Sports & Yelp - $8,616.00 # Boston University - $7,505.14 # BCEC - $7,324.48 # Chestnut Hill School - $7,170.00 # Iron Mountain - $7,001.00 # Surg-Care/Surgi-Tech - $6,359.33 # MetLife Auto & Home - $6,214.00 Save the Date! The next Project Bread Walk for Hunger will be on Sunday, May 3, 2009.

The main clinic site for BHCFH is located next to Woods Mullen Shelter by Boston…read moreMedical Center at 780 Albany St, Boston, MA They provide various healthcare services including drug prevention/relapse counseling, LGBTQ+ services, mental health psychiatry and counseling, pharmacy on site, dental clinic, weight loss and management, OBGYN care & men's wellness and more... Although, there are 5-10 various clinic sites located throughout Massachusetts in Boston homeless shelters: St Francis House, Pine Street Inn, New England Home for the Veterans and Father Bills Shelter in Quincy, MA. Thank you, LaQueen Battle, CMA/First Aid Battle First Aid Responder Services Inc Quincy, MA (10/5/2023@11:34AM EDT Boston MA USA)

This place is has some wonderful works , doctors and nurses . Yes it can be very busy and you might…read morebe waiting awhile but I have always been treated kindly even thou I'm no longer homeless . It's a scary thing to think about not having someone or somewhere to turn to when you need assistance.