A new refrigerated truck is just what St. John’s in Worcester needed to continue their mission of feeding the poor and hungry. Mid-January, an anonymous donor graciously supplied the church’s Food for the Poor program with a shiny new truck that could haul up to six pallets loaded with fresh food donations. Impressed by so much generosity going around, we decided to do our part as well.
The team at Machado Consulting is happy to announce that we are making a charitable donation to St. John’s Food for the Poor Program! This lump sum takes the place of our traditional holiday season gift-giving and charity drive event which was impractical due to the pandemic and work from home restrictions. “We understand this kind of donation isn’t as fun as ones we have done in the past, and we would have loved to get more people involved,” says Machado Consulting Founder and CEO Helder Machado. “Still, the immediate impact we know this money will have is well worth it.” St. John’s Food for the Poor Program operates inside the St. Francis Xavier Center on Temple Street in Worcester. They call themselves a “not-so-typical soup kitchen” whose mission is “helping others and reaching out to the poor and hungry.”
St. John’s opens its doors at 7:00 am on weekdays and 8:00 am on Saturdays to anyone in need, including the working poor, the unemployed, seniors, those experiencing homelessness, families with children, and veterans in the community. 
St. John’s recently reached out to the community, asking for help getting their new refrigerated truck, and some kind soul(s) answered the call. The new 17-foot truck can do much more than the small van and cargo van volunteers had been using before, neither of which could keep food cold. In short, the St. John’s team is in business, off and running with their powerful new tool to fight hunger. But the program still needs our help.
They report needing $4,000 per month for food to supplement their current donations. The soup kitchen has seen less foot traffic since the pandemic as most soup kitchens have, but they still feed 150-200 people per day. People cannot congregate in close quarters as they could before the pandemic, clamping down on the numbers of mouths that can be fed at once. On top of this, fewer people feel comfortable attending soup kitchens because of public health restrictions. Still, the need out there is enormous. Thanks to mass unemployment due to COVID-19 and the high cost of living and food, Massachusetts has had the highest percentage increase of hungry residents in the United States.
The pandemic is making life difficult for everyone. “It’s become even more important that we check on the wellbeing of our neighbors and do our part to help when we are more fortunate than others,” says Helder Machado. “St. John’s is a great local organization that’s helping people do just that, and we’re excited to be involved.” St. John’s Food for the Poor relies on the generosity and support of individuals, companies, and foundations to continue their efforts. You can learn more about the program and the great work they’re doing by visiting their website. If you’ve been inspired to make a donation yourself, you can do so on either a one-time basis or as a monthly recurring payment by clicking this link on St. John’s website.
