Worcester Business Journal

8 Worcester Business Journal | December 15, 2025 | wbjournal.com Feeding Worcester Nonprofits strain to meet surging food insecurity BY CHARLOTTE POWERS WBJ Editorial Intern O n a cold Tuesday af- ternoon, a line begins forming hours before the doors open at e Mus- tard Seed on Piedmont Street. Families cluster on the sidewalk with grocery bags tucked under their arms. Volunteers weave through the dining room, setting out tables, sorting boxes of produce, and preparing trays of hot food. Inside, Director Ray Kane moves quickly between the pantry shelves and the kitchen. He describes e Mustard Seed's work simply: Its mission is to provide a healthy, nutritious meal every night, Monday through Friday, rooted in the traditions of the Catholic Worker movement. Over 52 years, the organization has expanded to include a weekly medical clinic run with Health Care for the Homeless, a Tuesday food pantry, a community block party, and a free sum- mer camp for local children. But the mission remains centered on addressing hunger. "Clothe the naked, feed the hungry: the basic principles of Catholic social teaching," he said. Today, hunger in Worcester is rising faster than it has in years. According to the Greater Boston Food Bank's 2025 Food Access Report, 42% of Worcester County households experience food insecurity, one of the highest rates in the state. Worcester's poverty rate, roughly 20%, further intensifies the challenge. For Central Massachusetts nonprof- its like e Mustard Seed and El Buen Samaritano Food Program, that gap now shows up in the most measurable ways: e number of people coming through the door. Rising need at The Mustard Seed Kane joined e Mustard Seed six years ago, during the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when volunteer numbers plummeted and demand surged. What he has seen in just the past year surpasses even those crisis months. "Our dining room is overflowing every night, more than it's been in a long time," Kane said. "We're averaging about 120 meals a night, sometimes more." e pantry numbers have grown even faster. "Back in January 2024, we were aver- aging around 55 households a week," he said. "Last week we had 193 households; the week before, 206; and before that, 196." Just a few years ago, those were monthly totals. Now, they are weekly. e pantry is seeing 15 to 20 new households every week, representing families from 11 different Worcester ZIP codes, including Dominican, Albanian, Afghan refugee, and Central African households, he said. People leave with enough groceries for a week: eggs, milk, produce, beans, rice, cheese, yogurt, and fresh fruits and vegetables. Keeping up with this volume requires substantial logistics for an all-volunteer team. ree volunteers pick up food from the Worcester County Food Bank every Tuesday, bringing in as much as 3,000 pounds in a single trip. Others unload, sort, and pack groceries. e organization has made several adjustments to meet changing needs. It now provides halal meat for families who require it, has added Wednesday night pantry hours to reach about 30 more families, and has made the layout more accessible for seniors and people with disabilities. El Buen Samaritano sees similar trends Across the city, El Buen Samaritano Food Program is experiencing the same surge due to increased cost of living and the attempted halting of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments during the federal government shutdown. "Demand at our pantry has grown dramatically. Typical Fridays see about 500 households; currently, we're serving 809 households, and almost 6,000 people," said El Buen Executive Director Maricelis "Mari" Gonzalez. ere has been a 61.8% increase in households served and a 140% increase in individuals serve, Gonzalez said. e organization has responded by expanding home delivery for seniors and families without transportation and strengthening partnerships with schools, churches, and community groups. e increased demand includes working families, newly arrived immigrants, seniors on fixed incomes, and parents holding multiple jobs Policy shocks and local consequences is fall's temporary interruption of federal nutrition benefits placed added pressure on families and nonprofits. In a Nov. 12 press release, the United Way of Central Massachusetts estimated that more than 80,000 people across the region, including 53,000 Worcester residents, were affected when SNAP benefits were disrupted during the feder- al shutdown. United Way President and CEO Tim Garvin called it a crisis that demanded an immediate, coordinated response. e organization launched the UW- CM's United Response Fund, raising $1.2 million in two weeks to distribute emergency grocery gi cards and grants El Buen Samaritano is a food pantry located at 39 Piedmont St. in Worcester. Mari Gonzalez describes the history and mission of El Buen Samaritano and provides instruc- tions to several groups of volunteers before the food pantry officially opens for the day.

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