Every week at Citizens Inn, a Peabody-based nonprofit which works to end hunger and homelessness, volunteers stock shelves, serve hot meals, and connect families to vital resources — work now backed by a $10,000 grant from the Sincere Foundation.
The Sincere Foundation is funded entirely by profits from the Sincere Corporation, a Framingham-based technology company with four consumer brands — Punchbowl, Lovebird, Timeshop, and Memento — that celebrate moments and honor memories.
“Sincere, as a brand, celebrates memories and milestones and all of these wonderful things that happen in people’s lives,” Sincere Foundation Executive Director Rebecca Reiner said. “And we really felt like you can’t do that if you don’t know where your next meal is coming from, if you’re not sure where you’re going to sleep that night, or if you’re not safe in your community… We envision a world where everyone will be able to celebrate milestones and memories because they have what they need to thrive.”
She added, “Citizens Inn is doing some wonderful work for food security, and our job as a funder is to make sure they have what they need to continue doing the work that they do… We’re really excited to be able to fund them and really proud to be supporters of the work they’re doing.”
Citizens Inn serves about 6,700 people per year, according to Executive Director Melissa González. She mentioned that many come for the Haven From Hunger food programs and resources, which includes the food pantry, community meals, and the Community Resource Center.
According to González, the food pantry serves between 500 and 750 households per week, and the community meals program serves between 100 and 200 hot meals four nights per week. The $10,000 from the Sincere Foundation will solely go toward Citizens Inn’s Haven From Hunger program.
González pointed out: “We know that when people come in, for example, to the food pantry to get food, that food isn’t their only need.” She highlighted the Community Resource Center as a place where people can receive direct services and referrals to help prevent hunger and homelessness.
“For example, they might be behind on their rent, so we can direct them to resources that can help them with rental assistance or fuel assistance, or we can connect them to food benefits,” González said.
Citizens Inn also has three housing programs: Citizens Inn Transition, Citizens Inn Between, and Citizens Inn Homes. With its three programs, Citizens Inn is able to address the needs of families who are experiencing homelessness and also support them along the way to finding permanent housing after being placed within the Citizens Inn shelter programs.
“There’s a variety of wraparound services and connections that we provide there so that we can not just provide those emergency assistance that we’re committed to, but we also can work to prevent hunger and homelessness and to support people so that they can maintain stability,” González said.
She emphasized that Citizens Inn cannot operate without donations and grants. She noted that it has some state-funded contracts for its shelter programs, but the Community Resource Center and food security programs are all funded by private philanthropy.
González highlighted a current duality that she feels is “really important for people to understand now.”
“One, there are some really significant cuts to our social safety net in our country and in our state that are happening right now,” González said. “And two, at the same time, there are many beautiful things that are happening in communities every day to support the most vulnerable people in our communities, to support our most vulnerable neighbors… So it’s really important now more than ever for people to be involved in their communities in whatever way they can and whatever way makes sense for them in their lives.”
She continued, “That may look like giving a donation to your local food pantry or another organization that supports your neighbors. That may look like volunteering. We can’t operate our food pantry and our community meals program without hundreds of volunteers that work us every year to be able to put out food for their neighbors. That may look like doing some advocacy for specific policies at the state level or at the federal level. It may look different for different people, but the important thing is for people to get involved because there are real things happening in our communities every day to support our neighbors, and we can all be a part of that in whatever way makes sense for us.”
