Sophie Drozd,
FNSP Program Coordinator

I’m a student and musician at Berklee college of music studying media scoring. My favorite hobbies are drawing, cooking, and being in nature. I love FNSP because it strives to strengthen our community while valuing inclusivity for all individuals." Sophie manages the FNSP Clothing Closet and assists the Program Director during Friday meal service.
Welcome Sophie to the FNSP team!

The kitchen has been buzzing at FNSP this June! It has been great to welcome back some of our volunteer groups. The Boston Society of Civil Engineers brought a group inon Friday, May 20, to help out with the delicious meal that was sponsored and prepared by the Westin Copley Place Hotel. We also want to send a shout-out and big THANK YOU to all of our regular volunteers and board members who have been instrumental in keeping the kitchen up and running while we search for a new Kitchen Manager! They have jumped in on short notice, put together some amazing menus, and solved unexpected issues.

A big welcome to FNSP's new Program Director, Hasani Gunn, who started his new role on April 29th! Hailing from Los Angeles, CA, Hasani is a Master of Public Policy Candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, and Member of Bard College's Board of Governors.

We are gearing up for our Spring Trivia Night. We hope you'll join us on Saturday, May 14, 2022 for some good food, music and friendly competition to support FNSP! Tickets are selling fast, so get yours soon!

Lots of exciting things are happening at FNSP this month! With the waning Covid-19 infection rates, we have returned to in-person dining for our guests and will be increasing our dining room capacity incrementally in the weeks to come. We have lots of volunteer opportunities for individuals and groups, and an in-person Spring Trivia Night on May 14, 2022, to build social connections and raise critical funds.

We hope that 2022 is off to a great start for you! We have been very busy this last month at FNSP. We prepared and served hundreds of hot, tasty meals during the holiday season and distributed holiday gift bags, winter boots, winter coats and grocery store gift cards to our guests.

Thank you to everyone who has donated to our annual Holiday Appeal! There is still time to make a donation and help us reach our goal of raising $15,000 by December 31st!

As we approach Thanksgiving, we express gratitude for you, our friends and supporters, who make it possible for us to be here each week for our guests. We also express thanks for the delicious, nutritious and comforting food that is made in our kitchen each week and nourishes our neighbors in need.

Fall has finally arrived along with shorter, cooler days and delicious cooking from the FNSP kitchen! We are excited to spotlight some of our volunteers in this month's newsletter. Volunteers are crucial to the operations of FNSP- without them we couldn't make, serve, and deliver hundreds of hot, nutritious meals each month for our neighbors in need. Volunteering at FNSP is also fun and a great way to connect with the community!

Jenny’s hopes for FNSP

FNSP may be a small organization, but it is mighty thanks to the brilliance and efforts of the Staff, Board Members, and Volunteers. As we look into the next year, I hope to see FNSP continue to grow offering new services to our guests and building partnerships in the local community to further support our mission "to provide a warm nutritious meal to anyone in need in a safe and dignified environment every Friday night".

The summer is passing quickly in Boston and we have lots of news to share since our June newsletter. We had a very successful reopening for in-person dining starting on June 25th! Our staff and volunteers have been thrilled to welcome guests back for in-person dining which allows for more community building. We even reinstituted "ice cream night" sponsored by Ben & Jerry's on the last Friday of the month.

We also received some very exciting and generous funding news this month! FNSP was selected to receive a $100,000 grant from the Cummings Foundation paid over 10 years! We also received a $5,000 grant from the Cabot Family Charitable Trust. AND, one of our former volunteers, Peter Zalewski, donated funds to purchase a new food warmer for the kitchen.

This month's newsletter focuses on our Spring Event, which went virtual this year. What a great evening celebrating all of you who make what we do at FNSP possible! If you missed it, you can still watch the recording in the event section of our website.

We are excited to announce a new initiative! FNSP is now partnering with Rescuing Leftover Cuisine of Massachusetts to maximize the number of people we feed by more fully using our kitchen capacity and volunteer energy.

We are excited to announce a new initiative! FNSP is now partnering with Rescuing Leftover Cuisine of Massachusetts to maximize the number of people we feed by more fully using our kitchen capacity and volunteer energy.

FNSP has distributed 83 pairs of waterproof, winter boots so far to individuals experiencing homelessness as part of our annual Warm and Dry Feet Campaign.

We will also be open on Christmas Day and New Year's Day for our Friday evening meal service. A big thank you to our staff and volunteers who work through the holidays to ensure our neighbors in need get a hot meal. And a special welcome to Joseph Gaudet, FNSP's new Kitchen Manager.

Greetings FNSP Friends!
On Veterans Day, we express our gratitude to our veterans for their service to America today and always and to all of those individuals who work so hard everyday to keep our country safe and free. Thank you!

Greetings FNSP Friends! This month we pause to recognize our volunteers who continue to be the life-blood of our program. As we have adapted our operations to serve our guests in the safest and most compassionate way during Covid-19, we also look for new ways to engage and recognize our volunteers to keep the community spirit that we all value so much.

We are grateful to our long-time volunteers and the new volunteers who have joined us to support our weekly operations. We are grateful to the Arlington Street Church, who we spotlight in this issue, who has provided a home and community of support for FNSP for more than 36 years.

We at FNSP condemn the systemic acts of violence and degradation against communities of color. As an organization dedicated to serving and advocating for the most vulnerable, we at FNSP understand how entrenched systems of oppression negatively create widespread inequality.

At FNSP, we were heartbroken and outraged by the killing of George Floyd. We are also inspired by the global movement to fight back against systemic racism and the outpouring of support for the Black Lives Matter movement. During Pride month, we celebrate the Supreme Court ruling protecting LGBTQ rights in the workplace. We also continue to reflect on the inequities in food security still facing this community.

We thought we'd use our May issue to talk a bit about FNSP's commitment to serving, high-quality, nutritious fresh foods to our guests. We believe that good nutrition is a key building block of good health and should be accessible to all!

As our community and world face this unprecedented health crisis, we want to take a minute to update you on how we are working to ensure that some of the most vulnerable members of our community continue to receive the nutritious meals they depend on – today and in the future.

For 36 years, FNSP has been providing warm nutritious meals to anyone in need of a safe and dignified environment every Friday night at the Arlington Street Church in Boston. Your support makes this possible!

You helped us exceed our Annual Appeal Goal!! Thanks to your kindness, we raised over $15,000! Your financial support for FNSP will help homeless individuals and those at risk of homelessness to meet their basic need for food and clothing. . . and in the spirit of community, a place to belong.

On November 7, 2019 at the Hyatt Regency Boston, Friday Night Supper Program was proud and grateful to be honored at the 16th Annual Boston Cares Awards.