Above: You might be surprised to read about who helping the Southborough Food Pantry supports. (image posted by Southborough Food Pantry on Facebook)
As we head into the giving season, and prepare for upcoming collection drives, the Southborough Food Pantry has asked me to help clear up misconceptions in the community on the clients they support.
Southborough has an image as a privileged town. And of course we do have our share of very privileged families. But that’s not the full picture.
We’re fortunate enough as a town, that we don’t see homeless living on our streets or people holding signs asking for money. Instead, we have families and individuals struggling privately.
The people who need the most help are often quiet. Which is why the organizations who strive to help them can’t be.
Jessica Devine, Director of the Southborough Food Pantry, asked me to share the following stats on the people who rely on a helping hand from the pantry:
Who We Serve: Southborough Food Pantry Clients (as of November 1, 2026)
- 87 families, 234 neighbors. We currently serve 176 adults and 58 children under 18, so about one in three of the people we feed is a child.
- Our youngest clients are just getting started. Several little ones are still in diapers, and we’re looking forward to welcoming a baby girl in December.
- Most of our working-age clients have jobs. About 45% of our adults are age 65+ or living with a disability. Of the rest, the overwhelming majority are employed, and those who aren’t recently lost a job and are actively looking for work.
- We help newcomers build new lives. We support recent immigrants from Ukraine, Haiti, and other countries as they settle into our community.
- The need is growing fast. The number of people we serve has grown more than 20% in less than a year, driven by rising costs, not by people working less.
- These are our neighbors. Our clients are hardworking people who are deeply grateful for the pantry and for everyone who makes it possible.
There are multiple opportunities this month to help the pantry serve this growing list of clients.
The pantry’s biggest collection drive of the year, Scouting for Food, is coming up on Saturday, November 14th. (For more details, see my dedicated post.)
The pantry is also coordinating a turkey collection drive in time for Thanksgiving. (You can read those details here.)
And, given the overlap the base of clients in need of financial assistance, Southborough Youth & Family Services is partnering with the Food Pantry for a Southborough Holiday Gift Drive this year.1
You can make a donation to support the drive through the Friends of the Southborough Youth Commission’s PayPal account here. November 29th is the deadline.
- As part of the new partnership, SYFS is ditching the “Winter Wishes” branding they adopted in recent years. SYFS’ Director Sarah Cassell tells me that they want the new drive to be considered a “Southborough” drive rather than seen as SYFS’ or Friends of Southborough Youth Commission’s drive. She hopes the initiative can expand in future years to include other community organizations in town with similar holiday drives.
