by Jason Kornwitz
Erin McAleer, president of Project Bread. Photo by Channing Johnson.
Erin McAleer was working 24/7.
As president of Project Bread, McAleer was trying to find creative ways to keep children fed as schools closed across the commonwealth. According to her Boston-based nonprofit, which works to address food shortages, 400,000 kids in Massachusetts rely on school meals to stave off hunger.
“I realized that this public health challenge was unique,” recalls McAleer, who graduated from the Boston College School of Social Work in 2005. “The models of feeding people in the past wouldn’t be safe during a pandemic.”
After careful planning, Project Bread partnered with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and school districts across the state to create 1,600 pop-up meal sites. During the first four months of the pandemic, the nonprofit served 260,000 meals per day.
Erin McAleer and Project Bread: Relentless in the battle against food insecurity
As hunger in Massachusetts reaches unprecedented levels, McAleerâs organization is connecting people to food pantries and advocating for systemic change to public policy.
By Janelle Nanos Globe Staff,Updated December 10, 2020, 7:30 a.m.
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Erin McAleer has been relentless in her efforts to keep people fed as president of Project Bread.Philip Keith for The Boston Globe
Bostonians of the Year are selected by the editors of the Globe Magazine. Send comments to magazine@globe.com
As food insecurity in Massachusetts hits an unprecedented level, with more than 1 million people now struggling to afford meals, Erin McAleer has been relentless in her efforts to keep people fed. The president of Project Bread leads an organization serving a spectrum of need: Its FoodSource Hotline directs people to food banks and federal benefits to get them the food they need now; meanwhile, its