LYNN — YMCA Metro North leadership anticipates the $130,000 in state funding it received from the state this week will more than double its meal distribution operation.
YMCA Metro North, which has branches in Lynn, Saugus, and Peabody received the food security funding from the Baker-Polito administration, which announced the grant recipients on Wednesday.
The funds were earmarked for Lynn, the branch that runs the YMCA Metro North food program, but will benefit all three of its branch areas, according to Lynn YMCA branch executive director Andrea Baez.
The grant funding will enable the YMCA to purchase a refrigerated van to deliver meals and distribute food donations, service supplies, and equipment to increase capacity at several Y locations. In addition, the money will be used to create cafeteria space to serve food at the new Lynn YMCA, which is scheduled to open early next year, according to Baez.
“We’re really pumped about the van,” said Baez, noting that the purchase will enable YMCA Metro North to double or triple the capacity of meals that are served at their locations.
YMCA of Metro North currently serves about 350 meals per day Monday to Friday, with 250 meals served at the Lynn YMCA, Baez said, explaining that their food program started last year but was expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic when the need for food security rose.
“Right now, people come to the Y to pick up food,” she said. “We will have a refrigerated van that will allow us to store meals. If (families) can’t get to the Y or another site that does (meal distribution), it will actually be brought to their neighborhoods.”
The majority of the current food distribution consists of serving “grab and go” meals to schoolchildren who are engaging in remote learning in the YMCA buildings, Baez said. Meals are served at lunchtime and at night, which is when children may be swimming or working out at the gym, she said.
The plan is to work with city schools to determine what bus routes are typically used, and which routes are in high need areas that could be targeted for meal distribution with the van, Baez said.
Baez said the YMCA received its funding based on its application for a statewide grant to support food security in the state. The funds will also be used to create cafeteria space in Metro North’s new Lynn YMCA, which is still under construction.
The current YMCA on Neptune Boulevard will become a youth development center, but meals will continue to be served out of the location. The new building will allow for more social distancing, because the current Lynn YMCA can only operate at 40 percent capacity, Baez said.
“It will allow us to be able to provide some space for kids during COVID so if they want to eat they can do so safely,” said Baez.
YMCA Metro North was one of 47 organizations and school districts that were awarded a total of $5.9 million in grants to address urgent food insecurity for residents across the state as a result of the pandemic, according to the Baker-Polito administration.
The funding was awarded as part of the fourth round of the new $36 million Food Security Infrastructure Grant Program, created following recommendations from the Baker-Polito administration’s COVID-19 Command Center’s Food Security Task Force, which promotes ongoing efforts to ensure that individuals and families throughout the state have access to healthy, local food.
“As part of our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we continue to build on our efforts to secure a resilient, diverse local food supply chain so Massachusetts residents maintain access to fresh, healthy food,” said Gov. Charlie Baker.
“With this fourth round of grants, we will have awarded a total of $17.7 million, making critical investments in our local food infrastructure and ensuring a secure supply of food as residents across the Commonwealth adjust to the impacts of this unprecedented public health challenge.”
Baez said the grant funding is “so exciting,” noting that the Lynn YMCA had its “ear to the ground in the community” at the outset of the pandemic, and worked to meet the needs of residents by supplying food, diapers, and shelter.
“We pivoted to meet the needs of Lynn and food insecurity was a big one and it’s still a big one,” said Baez.