CHELSEA, Mass. — A food bank project had to shut its doors in one of the hardest hit communities during the pandemic. Chelsea’s La Colaborativa said it never got any notice from the federal government that food supplies were being cut a week early.
We met two mothers, each with three children, who have been regularly counting on the local food collaborative to feed their families. Anna Mejia was shocked to find out right before Christmas.
“Now I’m just scared. I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know what is going to happen,” Mejia said.
The federal food program that helped provide resources suddenly dried up for funding reasons. As Boston 25 News has been reporting for months, Chelsea is one of the hardest hit communities in the pandemic with so many residents out of work in the service industry.
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“My kids, they say, ‘Mom when are you going to go to the collaborative to get my juices and milk and cheese and everything like that.’ I say, ‘no, I don’t know when because they are not open, they are not open,’” Mejia said.
La Colaborativa Executive Director Gladys Vega said right before Christmas they got word the truck was not coming.
“We waited for him and when he called he says, ‘oh I just found out you guys that nobody is getting them because the contract just ended because they over-used their money,’” Vega said.
The group is now working with congressional leaders who said the new stimulus package will have money designated for COVID-19-related food programs, but that is weeks away.
“I feel like I betray my community. I feel like I didn’t give them enough notice to prepare. They have routinely come for 10 months to this place that proves free food,” Vega told Boston 25 News.
>>>MORE: Storm forces already struggling Chelsea residents to grocery shop after food pantry runs dry
While the collaborative is in this transition they are asking for people’s help by looking in your cabinet and working with them to donate nonperishables.
“Just bring whatever you are not using in your food pantry. Bring it over here. Whatever you don’t use a Chelsea family will use, and I will make sure it will get to those families,” Vega said.
In the meantime, Vega is working to find last-minute donations that can help before Monday morning.
Related: Chelsea pop-up pantry provides food for hundreds in city hit hard by coronavirus
“It’s a nightmare just because we thought we were going to have enough food to close the year,” Vega said.
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