Life Science Cares Boston and the Biogen Foundation have teamed up
as inaugural sponsors of Food For Free’s new Just Eats Grocery Box
program, a $170,000 effort to reduce food insecurity for 3,000 area
families, starting this month. To launch Just Eats, Life Science
Cares, the life science industry platform for giving back, has
committed $50,000, and the Biogen Foundation, the philanthropic arm
of Cambridge-based neuroscience pioneer Biogen Inc. (Nasdaq: BIIB),
has committed $100,000, matching the $50,000 from Life Science
Cares and donating an additional $50,000 to combatting food
insecurity for children in Greater Boston. Committing an additional
$20,000 toward the program is Alexandria Real Estate Equities,
Inc., the largest and preeminent owner, operator, and developer of
collaborative life science campuses in Greater Boston.
The combined funding will enable Just Eats to distribute 3,000
boxes of food per week through Food For Free’s network of community
partners in Boston, Cambridge, Chelsea, and Somerville, including
food pantries, Cambridge Housing Authority sites, other low-income
housing sites, and schools.
“Children cannot learn, employees cannot work, the sick cannot
heal without food to fuel them. The Just Eats boxes are a vital
tool to ensure families and children have access to fresh, healthy
food,” said Life Science Cares Boston Executive Director Sarah
MacDonald. “We’re honored to support this work and encourage others
to step up with funding to meet these urgent and critical
needs.”
From May to October of 2020, Food For Free distributed
USDA-organized boxes of fresh produce (the Farmers to Families Food
Box Program), which were uniform, suitable for dietary
restrictions, grab-and-go, and healthy. With access to the federal
program becoming more limited since late fall, Food For Free
intends to fill the gap with the Just Eats Grocery Boxes.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has created a growing hunger crisis.
Children are especially vulnerable to hunger which can create
far-reaching health and development consequences. Before the onset
of the pandemic, one in eleven children in Eastern Massachusetts
faced food insecurity. Now, it’s one in five children,” said Sasha
Purpura, Food For Free’s Executive Director. “Food For Free’s Just
Eats grocery box program helps address the urgent need for food and
provides families with more consistent access to the healthy foods
kids need. This would not be possible without the steadfast support
we receive from Biogen and the Biogen Foundation, as well as from
Life Science Cares and Alexandria Real Estate Equities. We are
grateful that their generous contributions are enabling us to
launch this new program, which will be a game-changer for the
families who rely on us for support.”
The Biogen Foundation began its collaboration with Food For Free
in 2019, when Biogen provided space in its headquarters for the
nonprofit's first permanent kitchen. In the past year, the Biogen
Foundation donated nearly $3 million globally to nonprofit leaders
who help people with food insecurity.
“Biogen, the Biogen Foundation and our employees have long been
deeply committed to food security – particularly for the most
vulnerable populations, like students. We are excited to build on
our longstanding relationship with Food For Free and Life Science
Cares to not only nourish 3,000 additional local families, but also
to serve as a catalyst and inspire others in our industry to
address this pressing need,” said Kate Dawson, MD, Head of
Therapeutics Development Unit and Chair of the Biogen Foundation.
“It made sense for us to step up and help fill this critical gap,
since promoting human health is core to who we are and what we do
as a company. Addressing food insecurity – and the improved
well-being of people and enhanced ability of students to learn that
can come with it – is one of the many ways we advance our purpose
and help our communities thrive.”
The Just Eats Grocery Boxes will include fresh food items like
potatoes, onions, carrots, apples, and oranges as well as staples
like rice and dried beans. Food will be sourced both by purchasing
and through non-profit partners such as the Greater Boston Food
Bank and Boston Area Gleaners.
“We are extremely proud to be long-term supporters of Food For
Free and its important mission to ensure that those in need in the
Cambridge community have access to fresh, nutritious food,” said
Hunter Kass, Executive Vice President and Greater Boston Regional
Market Director of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. “The new
Just Eats program aligns with our commitment to advance human
health, improve nutrition, and enhance the quality of people’s
lives in our local communities.”
With these latest grants, Life Science Cares, the Biogen
Foundation, and Alexandria reinforce their shared goals of creating
an infrastructure so all kids have access to healthy food in
Cambridge, Somerville, and beyond. Food For Free plans to use the
funds to produce 1,000 boxes per week in their new East Cambridge
food packing center and contracting another 2,000 through their
partners the Boston Area Gleaners.
Life Science Cares has supported Food For Free’s Family Meals
program with grant funding and volunteer support since 2018. The
additional $50,000 from the Biogen Foundation to combat food
insecurity for children will support Food For Free’s school
backpack programs in 2021.
Life Science Cares will also recruit volunteers to help pack the
Just Eats boxes in socially distanced volunteer shifts beginning
February 24. Volunteers can register at
http://boston.lsc.volunteerhub.com.
About Life Science CaresLife Science Cares
(LSC) is a collective effort of the life science industry
connecting companies with nonprofits that improve the lives of
people living in poverty in Greater Boston, Philadelphia, San Diego
and the Bay Area. In Boston, LSC harnesses the sector’s human and
financial resources from companies and supports a portfolio of 27
nonprofit organizations. LSC’s partner organizations work to
address basic survival needs like food and shelter, improve
education, and develop job skills that increase long term economic
sustainability for the community’s most vulnerable neighbors. For
more information, visit: www.lifesciencecares.org.
About BiogenAt Biogen, our mission is clear: we
are pioneers in neuroscience. Biogen discovers, develops and
delivers worldwide innovative therapies for people living with
serious neurological and neurodegenerative diseases as well as
related therapeutic adjacencies. One of the world’s first global
biotechnology companies, Biogen was founded in 1978 by Charles
Weissmann, Heinz Schaller, Kenneth Murray and Nobel Prize winners
Walter Gilbert and Phillip Sharp. Today Biogen has the leading
portfolio of medicines to treat multiple sclerosis, has introduced
the first approved treatment for spinal muscular atrophy,
commercializes biosimilars of advanced biologics and is focused on
advancing research programs in multiple sclerosis and
neuroimmunology, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, neuromuscular
disorders, movement disorders, ophthalmology, immunology,
neurocognitive disorders, acute neurology and pain.
We routinely post information that may be important to investors
on our website at www.biogen.com. To learn more, please visit
www.biogen.com and follow us on social media – Twitter,
LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube.
About the Biogen FoundationThe Biogen
Foundation supports access to science education and to essential
human services for children and their families in the communities
in which Biogen facilities are located. The Biogen Foundation is
committed to sparking a passion for science and discovery,
supporting effective science education initiatives and
strengthening efforts to make science education and science careers
accessible to diverse populations.
About Food For FreeFood For Free is a
Cambridge-based, non-profit organization dedicated to providing the
Greater Boston community with reliable access to fresh and
nutritious food. Food For Free accomplishes its mission through
food rescue, partnerships with schools, colleges, and community
food programs, and our own direct service programs. In the last
year, Food For Free distributed 3 million pounds of nutritious food
to more than 30,000 people throughout Greater Boston. To learn
more, please visit us at http://www.foodforfree.org/, or follow us
on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
BIOGEN MEDIA CONTACT:David
Caouette(781) 464-3260public.affairs@biogen.com |
LIFE SCIENCE CARES MEDIA
CONTACT:Allison Epstein(617) 269-7171allison@teakmedia.com |
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