Community Servings, a Jamaica Plain-based nonprofit provider of medically tailored meals and nutrition services, and a leader in “food is medicine” research, advocacy and policy, officially opened a new satellite distribution center in Mansfield, a 23,000-square-foot facility specially outfitted for meal packaging and delivery to hundreds of people living with critical and chronic illnesses across the region.
Community Servings cut the ribbon for its new, 23,000-square-foot meal distribution facility in Mansfield on March 4, 2024. Pictured from left: Board Chair Peter Zane, COO Kevin Conner, CEO David Waters, Congressman Jake Auchincloss, and Mass. Department of Agricultural Resources Commissioner Ashley Randle. (courtesy photo)
The expansion enables Community Servings to better serve current clients and reach new ones who live in southeastern Massachusetts, including on Cape Cod, as well as in parts of Rhode Island, its fastest-growing service area. By summer, the Mansfield facility will efficiently distribute weekly meal deliveries to 1,000 clients, each offering ten healthy meals and other components, including nutritious snacks, wholegrain breads, and homemade, diet-appropriate desserts.
“Our new satellite space in Mansfield is critical for our mission as we continue to experience record demand for our scratch-made meals from individuals and families experiencing illness and nutrition insecurity,” said David B. Waters, CEO of Community Servings. “We are grateful for the warm welcome we have received from the Mansfield community and from our elected leaders in Massachusetts who recognize the positive impact the ‘food is medicine’ health care intervention can provide.”
“Everyone in the Bay State should have access to affordable and healthy food options,” said U.S. Representative Jake Auchincloss, who attended the March 4 ribbon-cutting event in Mansfield. “Community Servings’ expansion is important progress, and I will continue to support their efforts in Mansfield and beyond.”
Community Servings secured a long-term lease last year for the building at 170 Forbes Blvd., located in the Cabot Business Park with convenient access to I-95 and I-495. The agency has worked collaboratively with the town of Mansfield on the interior buildout and received federal funding for the project with the support of the Massachusetts congressional delegation.
“Access to nutritious meals for people living with critical and chronic illnesses is so important for their recovery and well-being,” said U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren. “Community Servings’ Mansfield facility expansion is a great example of the power of federal funding for furthering food security and economic justice.”
“After securing $580,000 in federal funding for Community Servings, it is great to see those federal dollars at work being used to serve our community,” said U.S. Senator Ed Markey. “This new distribution center will not only help provide medically tailored and nutritious meals to more chronically and critically ill individuals and their families by expanding their reach to individuals they serve, but it will also solidify their commitment to prioritize economic justice and health equity.”
The distribution center serves as a complement to Community Servings’ headquarters in Boston where all of the scratch-made food will continue to be prepared in its 13,000-square-foot kitchen by staff and volunteers. In Mansfield, teams of staff and volunteers will sort and package meals into delivery bags and shipping boxes and organize weekly deliveries to clients by Community Servings drivers or UPS ground shipments.
Community Servings offers 15 medical diets, approved by registered dietitian nutritionists, for people experiencing life-threatening illnesses such as HIV/AIDS, cancer, kidney disease, diabetes and heart disease. Meals include entrees, soups, fresh fruits and vegetables, snacks, and desserts. Research studies have shown that medically tailored meals can improve patient health while significantly reducing medical costs such as hospital visits or nursing home stays.
The distribution center frees up additional space in Community Servings’ Boston headquarters, which was expanded in 2019 into a three-story, 31,000-square-foot facility featuring a larger kitchen, culinary classrooms for nutrition education and food-service training, a volunteer orientation room, administrative offices, and a center for food and health policy research.
The new distribution center includes a combination walk-in freezer and refrigerator totaling 3,000 square feet, a spacious meal packaging assembly area, multitiered warehouse shelving, staff offices and workspaces, and a multimedia training room. The lobby wall features the Community Servings logo – an orange cooking pot filled with a heart – and the phrase, “Food Heals.”