Food For Free Announces Collaboration with Biogen Foundation

Biogen Foundation Builds and Donates Kitchen Space Located at the Biogen Headquarters to Support Non-Profit’s Family Meals Program

Cambridge, MA (May 15, 2019) –Food For Free, the Cambridge-based, non-profit organization dedicated to providing every member of the Greater Boston community with reliable access to fresh and nutritious food, today announced the opening of its new preparation kitchen donated by Cambridge-based biotech company, Biogen and the Biogen Foundation. The 500-square-foot space, located directly in the Biogen headquarters was built pro-bono by the biotech firm for the sole use of the non-profit’s Family Meals program.

Food For Free’s Family Meals program repurposes prepared foods that would otherwise be discarded into single-serving meals. The organization collects surplus food from its corporate partners, university dining halls and company cafeterias, and then turns this excess food into microwavable meals. These nutritious, fully-cooked meals are frozen, packaged and sealed for consumption and transported to distribution sites in Food For Free’s refrigerated trucks. The meals are delivered to local community colleges, families sheltered in hotels without access to kitchens, underprivileged families, and other populations that face barriers to cooking for themselves. The permanent kitchen space has the capacity to deliver over 100,000 meals annually and avoid 64,000 pounds of potential food waste.

“The success of our Family Meals program, and many of our other initiatives that are so important to the community, is directly related to the support of our fantastic donors and corporate partners,” said Food For Free’s executive director Sasha Purpura. “Biogen’s unwavering commitment to Food For Free and the underserved members of our community is on full display in the amazing new kitchen they generously built specifically for our use. With their help, we will now be able to dramatically expand our mission to eliminate hunger in Greater Boston.”

The Biogen Foundation and Food For Free will also work closely with Life Science Cares to offer volunteer opportunities for Biogen employees and local life science companies to give back to their local community. Life Science Cares is an organization representing the collective efforts of the local Life Science industry to eliminate the impact of poverty in Greater Boston.

“At Biogen, we care deeply about making a difference,” said Kate Dawson, SVP, Therapeutics Development Group and Head, Biogen Foundation. “That’s why we are proud to announce the opening of a newly designed Food For Free kitchen space, right in our headquarters, to enable Food For Free to help feed individuals and families through its Family Meals program.”

ABOUT FOOD FOR FREE
Food 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 traditional food organizations, and our own direct service programs. In 2018, Food For Free distributed more than two 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.

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