Waltham Fields Community Farm Receives 13K Grant to Fight Poverty

WALTHAM, Mass. – Life Science Cares Boston, a nonprofit that connects life science industry executives and employees with nonprofits fighting poverty across Greater Boston, has awarded Waltham Fields Community Farm a $13,500 grant to support the organization’s work growing and making healthy food attainable for people at all income levels. The Waltham-based nonprofit is one of 27 social service organizations to receive a collective $755,000 in grants in 2020, bringing Life Science Cares’ four-year giving total to more than $3.8 million.

Founded in 2016, Life Science Cares was created as a platform for members of the life sciences industry to give back while also giving nonprofits the funds and volunteer power necessary to grow and innovate. This combination of connecting multi-year grants and volunteers to nonprofits that need both is the core value the organization brings as it works to decrease the ever-widening economic and opportunity gap in communities.

This year’s grant distribution culminates another year of rapid expansion and community impact. In addition to its annual grants program, since March Life Science Cares has led a multi-faceted COVID-19 relief effort to help Greater Boston neighbors facing challenges during the crisis, rallying 600 area biopharma executives and employees to raise $1.8 million granted to organizations that provide food, shelter and medical care.

“The Life Science Cares model is unique in that our corporate members’ support extends well beyond financial contributions to include volunteer engagement, strategic support and in-kind donations of goods or services,” says Sarah MacDonald, Executive Director for Life Science Cares. “This year, more than ever, it is an honor to invest in our partners working tirelessly to provide food, housing, education and employment to our neighbors in need.”

Each of Life Science Cares’ partnerships look vastly different, but all are aimed at fighting poverty. Partners who address basic human needs, such as food and shelter, are working with homeless populations and those living month to month and struggle to pay for groceries, bills and rent. Partners who provide educational programs serve underrepresented and underserved youth in schools and after-school programs. And, partners who focus on economic sustainability work with young adults, immigrants and sometimes mid-career individuals who are looking for better opportunities in the workforce, often seeking to switch from gig economy jobs to more stable salaried positions.

The Life Science Cares grant will go to continue a pilot Produce Prescription project, in which families facing food insecurity are “prescribed” fresh produce each week of the farm’s growing season. The pilot, which launched in spring 2020 with Charles River Community Health Center as a key partner, joins a growing list of programs around the country working to connect access to healthy, fresh food to positive health outcomes.

“We would not have been able to design and launch the pilot in 2020 without Life Science Cares’ funding and encouragement. While the pandemic required we shift from our initial plans, we were able to get farm-fresh produce to so many new families and heard clearly the positive feedback,” says Stacey Daley, Executive Director of Waltham Fields Community Farm. “We are thrilled to have Life Science Care’s second season of support as they understand not only the importance of our work but the heightened need that vulnerable populations currently have in obtaining fresh, healthy, delicious food.”

Life Science Cares is a turnkey CSR program for the life science industry and a model through which other professional industries can leverage their time, talent and treasure to tackle society’s greatest social issues. The organization recently expanded into Philadelphia and will launch affiliates on the West Coast in the coming months. For a complete list of 2020 Life Science Cares grant recipients, visit https://lifesciencecares.org/life-science-cares-boston-awards-755000-to-nonprofits-fighting-poverty/.

About Life Science Cares

Life Science Cares is a collective effort of the life science industry connecting companies with nonprofits that improve the lives of people living in poverty in target cities nationwide. In Boston, Life Science Cares harnesses the sector’s human and financial resources to support a portfolio of 27 nonprofit organizations. Life Science Cares partner organizations work to address basic survival needs (food, shelter) improve education, and develop job skills that increase long term economic sustainability for the community’s most vulnerable neighbors. For more information, visit: www.lifesciencecares.org.

About Waltham Fields Community Farm

Community Farms Outreach, more commonly known as Waltham Fields Community Farm, is celebrating its 25th season this year. It was founded with a mission to promote local agriculture and food access through its farming operation and educational programs, and to help people connect with their food supply in healthful and meaningful ways. It uses practices that are socially, ecologically, and economically sustainable, and encourages healthy relationships between people, their food supply, and the land from which it grows. The farm provides organic vegetables to low-income populations across metro-Boston through a variety of programs, runs a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share program, provides all-ages farm and environmental education, trains new farmers, and has an active volunteer program.

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