From the Community

Community Servings Names MacPhee as Executive Chef

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Community Servings, a nonprofit provider of medically tailored meals and nutrition services, and a leader in “food is medicine” research, advocacy and policy, has appointed Dianna MacPhee as its new executive chef. MacPhee has more than two decades of experience as an executive chef in a variety of culinary settings, including fine dining, boutique retail, country clubs, airport dining and educational food service. As someone living with psoriatic arthritis, she also personally identifies with the Jamaica Plain-based nonprofit's mission and understands the powerful connection between food and health. “While certain foods can inflame my condition, I am fortunate to have consistent access to fresh, healthy foods and a care team to help keep me on track,” said MacPhee. “Unfortunately, too many people in our community don’t have those resources to manage their illness – but Community Servings is working hard to change that.

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Nonprofit

Congresswoman Pressley Celebrates Community Servings’ 11th Million Meal Milestone

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Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley recently visited Community Servings to celebrate the Jamaica Plain nonprofit's 11th million meal served. “This is a unique model that meets the needs of individuals who are vulnerable and isolated, those that are terminally or chronically ill, that shows that food is also medicine. The fact that they have 100 volunteers a day helping at Community Servings is really a testament to just how many people care,” said Pressley after visiting on Sept. 8. “Community Servings is celebrating our 11 millionth meal, which we prepared from scratch in our kitchens in Jamaica Plain.

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Community Servings

Free Cooking Classes for Kids from Community Servings

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Local non-profit Community Servings is offering free weekly cooking classes for children 9 to 13 on several Fridays including July 22. Valerie Machinist, Director of Nutrition and Client Services at Community Servings, passed along the following info. During Kids Kitchen kids will learn basic cooking skills, recipe exploration, nutrition education, and kitchen safety. Kids will learn about healthy after-school snacks, fruit and veggie smoothies, baked mozzarella sticks, oven-baked chicken fingers, and healthy desserts, among others healthy and delicious recipes developed by our registered dietitian nutritionists. This program is open to children ages 9-13 who are accompanied by an adult. Proof of vaccination and masks are required for all participants entering the building.

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From the Community

Community Servings Appoints New Chief Financial Officer

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Community Servings, a Jamaica Plain nonprofit provider of medically tailored meals and nutrition services and a leader in “food is medicine” research, advocacy and policy, announced the appointment of Silifa Wallace, CPA, MBA as Chief Financial Officer. Wallace, who most recently served as the Chief Audit Executive for Boston University, brings more than two decades of experience in internal audit management, financial reporting, accounting and risk management to Community Servings. “Silifa assumes a very important position on our executive team, particularly as we continue to grow our mission and expand our relationships with payers and other health care partners,” said David B. Waters, CEO of Community Servings. “Her experience will be a tremendous asset as she oversees our stellar team of finance professionals.”

Prior to joining Community Servings, Wallace served as the Associate Vice President for Internal Audit & Advisory Services at Boston University, providing guidance on risk and audit issues to the Board of Trustees and senior leadership. Previously at BU, she oversaw a team as Director of Clinical Finance for the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine.

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Business

20 Vendors Each Week! Sustainability-Focused Egleston Farmers Market Every Saturday

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The Egleston Farmers Market is back at a new location, and with a focus on sustainability. The market is taking place in the Community Servings parking lot (179 Amory St.), just around the corner from the Stony Brook T station. The market is being organized by local sustainability organization Mendi, which was started in 2018 by designer/researcher Will DeConto and event organizer Caitlin Kenney. "Mendi’s Boston fights 'throw-away' consumerism and fast fashion by helping people invest in what they have and redistributing our community’s excess through our events, workshops, and publications," said a press release. "Our Style Revival events have repaired, upcycled or redistributed over 5,000 units of unused clothing within our community so far - over 1,500 of those went to non-profits helping Boston’s homeless or people in need."

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From the Community

Community Servings Grows Food & Health Policy Program With Grant From Alletess Medical

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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, today announced an expansion of its Food & Health Policy Program resulting from a grant from Alletess Medical Laboratory. The Rockland-based company recently contributed $75,000 in funding that has supported staff positions dedicated to policy work, coaching and technical assistance as part of the Food is Medicine Coalition’s Accelerator, and the advancement of research and policy initiatives at the state and federal levels. “Alletess Medical Laboratory is an important new partner to our organization and we are grateful for their generous contribution,” said David B. Waters, CEO of Community Servings. “Our Food & Health Policy team is hard at work on ways to expand access to medically tailored meals, not only in Massachusetts but nationwide, and to accelerate the adoption of this life-saving intervention more broadly in health care.”

Alletess Medical Laboratory has been a leader in the field of allergy and immunology testing since 1980. The company has also supported Community Servings by sending groups of volunteers to help the kitchen team prepare meals that are delivered to chronically and critically ill people throughout Massachusetts.

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From the Community

Community Servings’ Meals4Moms Fundraiser Benefits Mothers in Need

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Community Servings, a Jamaica Plain nonprofit provider of medically tailored meals and nutrition services to individuals and families in Massachusetts experiencing critical and chronic illnesses, is holding its annual Mother’s Day fundraiser, Meals4Moms, in partnership with McCrea’s Candies of Boston. Gift givers can send mom a box of handcrafted caramels – available in two sizes, 40 pieces for $65 or 80 pieces for $95 – with a Lake Champlain chocolate heart nestled within the box. Each purchase is a donation that will support a local mom with the nutritious food they need to maintain and improve their health. The gift includes a card designed by local artist Susy Pilgrim Waters inscribed with a personalized message. Supporters can also choose to send just a card for a $30 donation.

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From the Community

Urgent Need for Kitchen Volunteers at JP’s Community Servings

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Kitchen volunteers are urgently needed at Community Servings to help the Jamaica Plain nonprofit’s professional kitchen staff prepare and package 18,000 medically tailored meals that are delivered weekly to critically and chronically ill individuals across the region. While Community Servings operates one of Boston’s largest volunteer programs, the current COVID-19 surge has pushed January volunteer numbers to low levels. Demand for the nonprofit’s nutritious, life-saving meals has increased by over 80% since the pandemic began. “Volunteers have been at the heart of our mission since we began, essential to ensuring that we can feed our neighbors in need and help maintain their health,” said David B. Waters, CEO of Community Servings. “Given the effects of this pandemic surge, we are making a plea for anyone with a few hours to lend a helping hand in our kitchen.”

Volunteers help peel and chop vegetables; portion soups, stews and salads; and pack weekly meal bags for clients living with HIV/AIDS, cancer, diabetes and heart disease, among other illnesses.

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From the Community

Community Servings Aims for ‘Record-Baking’ Year for Pie in the Sky Fundraiser

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Community Servings, a Jamaica Plain-based nonprofit provider of medically tailored meals and nutrition services, recently announced the launch of its 29th annual Pie in the Sky, the community bake sale-style fundraiser that helps feed chronically and critically ill neighbors across Massachusetts. Whole Foods Market is returning as the presenting sponsor and will donate proceeds from select pie sales in stores ahead of Thanksgiving. “We’re planning for a ‘record-baking’ Pie in the Sky thanks to the generosity our sponsors, bakers and volunteers,” said David B. Waters, CEO of Community Servings. “Together, we’ll not only help address the increasing need for nutritious food among our community’s critically and chronically ill, but will make Thanksgiving dinner even more meaningful for thousands of families across Massachusetts.”

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic couldn’t stop last year’s Pie in the Sky. With streamlined baking, boxing and touchless delivery of more than 7,000 pies from Community Servings’ kitchen and Hyde Park-based Boston Baking Inc., and the sale of thousands of pumpkin and apple pies at Whole Food Markets across Massachusetts, Community Servings raised over $640,000 in 2020.

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From the Community

Community Servings Prepares 10 Millionth Medically Tailored Meal

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When Community Servings was founded in 1990, a small group of volunteers delivered 30 hot dinners to nourish people struggling with wasting syndrome associated with HIV/AIDS. Today, more than three decades later, the Jamaica Plain nonprofit organization has cooked up its 10 millionth scratch-made meal as its mission has expanded to serve individuals with a wide range of illnesses. “This milestone is a matter of pride for the 70-plus employees and dozens of daily volunteers whose collective mission is to prepare medically tailored meals in the kitchen of Community Servings and deliver them to people in need across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” said David B. Waters, CEO of Community Servings. “We can count our progress by the millions now, but what we do really comes down to two words: food heals.”

To celebrate the milestone meal, a result of rapid growth over the last two years, Community Servings welcomed elected officials and community leaders, including U.S. Representative James P. McGovern (MA-2nd), a leading voice on hunger policy and longtime “food as medicine” champion, to its 31,000-square-foot “Food Campus” in Jamaica Plain on Sept. 13.

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