About Bread & Roses

When I took position of coordinator I was told, ‘Be careful; your life will never be the same.’ Fortunately, it never was the same. It was enriched greatly.

Kay Kinsky, North Andover, volunteer since 1980

Who is Bread & Roses?

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Bread & Roses is a soup kitchen in Lawrence, MA with a strong and rich tradition of being a center of hope and caring to the thousands of people in the Merrimack Valley who are struggling for survival.

Founded in 1980, Bread & Roses' primary purpose is to ease the hunger of people in our community by providing a well-balanced, nutritious evening meal.

All in need are welcome to our center to partake of a community meal in a peaceful, friendly environment. Guided by a spirit of hospitality and nonviolence, respect for the dignity of each person who comes through the door is a hallmark of our community.

Since hunger relief is our main concern, there is no cost for the meal.

We anticipate the day when hunger and poverty are eliminated and our work of hospitality is no longer needed. Until that day, we remain committed to easing the suffering of people who are hungry and in need.

Thank you for joining us in this important work.

Our Family of Volunteers

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There are innumerable tasks that must be accomplished in order to offer hospitality and to serve a complete dinner to over 150 guests nightly. Approximately 150 volunteers are committed to staffing Bread & Roses' evening meal shift (4:15-7:30 P.M.) assist with daytime meal prep, mailings, cleaning, organizing, yardwork and assorted other tasks too numerous to mention. Approximately 25 groups cater meals for Bread & Roses on a regular basis. It is one of the joys of life at Bread & Roses to see a variety of people of different beliefs and from different walks of life all working together for a common goal.

Organizations have been generous with their time and food and fundraising drives. For their regular contributions we thank:

Andover High School

Austin Prep High School

Boxford Garden Club

Boys Scouts of America

Central Catholic High School

Flowers by Steve

Merrimack College

Phillips Academy

Susan Currie Photographs

University of Massachusetts, Lowell

Village Garden Club, Andover

Boxford Garden Club

A Bread & Roses story from a former volunteer

Frozen turkeys parade in and out of the soup kitchen between Thanksgiving and Christmas. "My boss gave everybody one as a holiday bonus," says the burley fellow at the door balancing a twenty pounder on his shoulder. "But we're going to the inlaws for dinner this year and I thought you folks could use this." The man's smile reveals his pleasure in presenting the gift.

"Sure! Thankyou so much." I say. He laughs at me when I offer to accept the bird, instead he makes his way through to the kitchen and plunks the frosty bird on the counter with a weighty thud. Thevolunteers, with towels slung over their shoulders and aprons around their waists, praise him: that was so good of you!

"Is there any room left in the freezer?" Ken asks as soon as he leaves, though he already knowing there isn't. Our freezer space is limited; long term turkey storage is out of the question. We havethought of getting a walk in but they're too expensive. One year Benson's Ice Cream let us store some birds at their place; now we just give them away as soon as we can.

In most families the excess turkey dilemma is a post holiday tradition. You know: turkey soup, turkey sandwiches, turkey spread. But not at 58 Newbury street in Lawrence.

Most nights, the evening meal at Bread and Roses is prepared in advance by a church or civic group, like the Knights of Columbus or Saint John's Parish. Inevitably, for about two weeks before theholiday, each group sponsoring the meal for that night decides to prepare a traditional turkey dinner, with stuffing and cranberry sause and apple pie. It's really quite lovely. But the question is: how many consecutive nights can a person get excited about turkey? In mid March or late September a turkey dinner is a welcome treat to our dinner guests, but by the third week in November we long for the familiar beans and hot dogs and crave the mundane spaghetti and meatballs.

"Carmen, do you and the kids have an oven at home?" We have learned to ask that question, tactfully, before sending someone off with a turkey of their own. They take a long time to cook on a hot plate. The needier families with lots of kids usually get asked first, but in1987 we had so many even the single men and women were offered a roaster. Now, we keep a list of who got turkeys. This was after we learned Norman Berube got three in one week; and he lives at the "Y"!Norman sold the birds. I can still imagine the man peddling his poultry on Park Street.

-Janice

Generosity of Strangers

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Bread & Roses is completely supported by generous individuals, groups, religious organizations, schools, businesses and private foundations and has not received any state or federal funding. Bread & Roses welcomes financial contributions to support our work of hunger relief. Checks made out to Bread & Roses can be mailed to:

Bread & Roses

58 Newbury Street

Lawrence, MA 01840

Contributions to Bread & Roses are tax deductible.

Bread & Roses Blog

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Bread & Roses Blog

June 2011

Anne L., the Volunteer Coordinator from Christ Church in Andover, created a brochure to share with her fellow parishioners, as well as with the staff of B&R. For this blog entry, we included a section of Anne's brochure.

A Volunteer’s 1st Experience…

I drive into Lawrence looking for 58 Newbury Street, expecting a facility that can house 150 people for dinner.

It’s 4:15 as I turn the corner and see a row house with a short line of people in front of it. “Can this be it?” I knock on a locked door and everything changes quickly.

A quiet, humble man sits at a table; he stands, smiles and introduces himself, Bob Lanzoni, Bread & Roses Director. His only advice, “don’t worry, you can’t get fired from this job.”

In less than 5 minutes, I feel welcomed and part of the Bread & Roses family. Kathy, our coordinator, gently guides us through what needs to be done for our first seating - the doors open at 5:00PM.

The evening brings so much:

- Love & gratitude, for the ability to know and serve this community

- Comradery, with volunteers from Christ Church and many other new friends

~Anne L.

May 2011

During the last entry, we mentioned that the fully functional medical examination room was complete! We are pleased to report that in the past 5 months, the room has been utilized on a weekly basis by our guests and community partners from the Greater Lawrence Family Health Center.

Between February and April, the Prevention and Education Department from the GLFHC, conducted 10 outreach sessions at Bread and Roses. Their primary goal is to provide services to "individuals at high-risk for contracting HIV and other communicable diseases."

So far, the program has reached many of our community members, including 175 high-risk individuals ! Here are some of the other program statistics:

35 of the 175 high risk clients were referred to individual sessions for risk reduction counseling and STI screening services
250 educational pamphlets distributed
200 sharps containers distributed
1200 male condoms and 75 female condoms distributed

We are so pleased that the program has been successful and beneficial to our community members. Thank you GLFHC!

Visit their website!

Dec 2010

It was a busy week last week, culminating with the Dec. 2 picture taking day. This is a holiday present we provide to our guests, free photos of families and friends as keepsakes or gifts. We announce the day at our dinner gatherings and an amazing number of people turn out every year. We are grateful to the O’Connor picture company and Lee and Paula Bradbard, who took 170 photos and made it possible for our guests to have something to share with others.

Quite possibly the highlight of our year, we had a very successful opening of the medical room, too, where our volunteer doctor is finally able to perform a number of minor procedures normally done at the clinic.

It all started with a call – as these opportunities often do – from donor Nancy Clover, who runs Occupational Health Connections. She had access to a medical office about to be torn down and told us we could have an entire doctor’s office setup: an EKG machine, defibrillator, blood pressure equipment, an examining table and ancillary stuff. Everything at no cost to us.

Nancy called on a Thursday to advise we would have to pick up the equipment on Friday because the building would be razed on Saturday. We had to move fast.

We found a mover willing to do it within the 24-hour period and they charged us a minimal amount of money because of who we are. Volunteers came in at short notice to assist movers to carry the equipment into Bread & Roses and up to the second floor.

We knocked down walls and reset the room, designating the new space as a medical room only.

Our medical room has arrived! Soon you’ll see cotton balls, unexpired OTC medications, antiseptics, bandages and sterile pads on our request list!

October 2010

October 2010 Marked 30 Years of Bread & Roses Serving the Greater Lawrence Community. We celebrated by hosting an event at Chester's (60 Island Street, Lawrence) to thank our dedicated volunteers.