Sudbury's Inner City Food Bank helping more people than ever

The shelves at the Inner City Home on Elm Street are sparse.

It operates two food bank locations serving more people than ever, and right now, there is less food to distribute. Officials said community awareness is key and is helping.

“The board was really responsible (for doing) all the fundraising and to go out in the community and beg borrow and steal is the term I often use,” said Inner City president Joe Drago.

“So now we see individuals, we see businesses, we see corporations saying we are going to run a little program and we are going to designate the funds to you.”

Officials said clients can visit once every 30 days but Inner City often helps people who are in desperate situations.

“We won’t turn away anyone who is in need,” said Kathryn Tiplady, Inner City Home Administrator.

“We will do what we can to provide at least some emergency assistance if you are not eligible for a full order.”

Inner City is seeing an increase in demand across all demographics including young families, seniors, newcomers and people living in encampments.

“More and more people are coming this way knowing that they can get some assistance. We will give as much as we can knowing that they are unable to refrigerate or unable to cook, so we will kind of do what we can,” said Tiplady.

“We have had people who have been here two days three days and all of a sudden they are at our door. Some don’t even speak the language but they need food,” said Drago.

Officials said all donations are welcome, from non-perishable food items to money, but add monetary donations give Inner City Home more buying power for food.

“With National Grocers, when we go there with cash, they allow us to buy $3 worth of food for every dollar that we bring there,” said Drago.

Officials at the Inner City Home said they hope the community will continue to help ease the struggle to meet the growing need by fundraising or organizing food donations.

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