About Us
Our Vision
Neighbors In Need works to significantly reduce hunger and food insecurity and to allow people in Greater Lawrence experiencing economic hardships and other challenges to have access to food and basic necessities, with dignity, respect, and privacy. We seek to engage the community and to provide opportunities to serve, for both donors and volunteers.
Our Mission
Neighbors In Need is a community-based organization serving the Greater Lawrence area. Each week, we offer several mobile market food pantries which are strategically located within the neighborhoods where our clients live. We provide healthy and nutritious non-perishable foods, fresh produce, and other basic needs to anyone who is hungry or experiencing hardship. Our small staff is the framework within which we engage a large group of volunteers each week to help us nimbly respond to the changing needs within the community.
Our Community
Neighbors In Need (NIN) serves food insecure families in Greater Lawrence without question by providing food, diapers and other basic necessities. We are concerned about the consequences of poverty and poor nutrition on the families that we serve. Access to healthy and affordable food is a serious public health issue in Lawrence because the incidence of obesity, diabetes, premature death and cardiovascular disease are much higher than the state average. These significant health disparities are rooted in long-standing economic conditions in the area. We serve more than 5,000 unique families each year. 85% of the clients we serve are Spanish speaking. We also serve a number of Mandarin speaking elders through our Andover food pantry.
Our History
In 1983, Neighbors In Need was founded to provide food to low-income families in Lawrence in response to the early 1980’s deep economic recession. We opened two food pantries that year with 8 more food distribution sites added over the last 40 years. Our newest pantries opened in 2017 and 2018 in Methuen and Andover. These sites address an unmet food need identified by the Greater Boston Food Bank. NIN food pantries now serve 1,600 families each week, and in 2023 distributed more than 1 million pounds of food both historic highs. Since our beginning, we have distributed diapers, infant formula and other basic goods.
We help 600 babies each month in our diaper pantry. During the Covid 19 Pandemic when many Lawrence families were sick or in quarantine, NIN volunteers began making deliveries. Lawrence was one of the areas in the state hit hardest by COVID, and our deliveries made it possible for families in the poorest city of the Commonwealth who were unable to leave their homes, to get essential items like food, infant formula, and diapers. For families without transportation, we still deliver food or diapers to 125 families each week.
After the Columbia Gas Explosions, and early in the Pandemic, when basic needs were hard to get, we partnered with Community Giving Tree, and sought funding for the area’s first Diaper Bank. We are now members of the National Diaper Bank Network, purchase diapers in bulk, and distribute 160,000 diapers annually, through five partner agencies.
Our Programs
Neighbors In Need distributes food in 10 locations each week in Lawrence, Methuen, and Andover, including six mobile market food pantries. Families receive a bag of healthy food including staples, fresh produce, frozen protein, and a bakery/dairy item. We operate a centralized diaper pantry where parents visit monthly for diapers, wipes, infant formula, and other necessary items. Our diaper pantry distributed 205,000 diapers and 56,000 4-ounce bottles of infant formula last year. Our Diaper Bank Pilot Project makes quarterly bulk purchases of 40,000 diapers and provides these diapers to 5 Lawrence and North Andover based partner agencies to distribute to families with diaper need. NIN staff coordinate 125 volunteer packed & made deliveries of food or diapers weekly. Our Holiday Meal Program provides 1,800 families special meal boxes for Thanksgiving and at the end of December which include festive foods, pantry items and either a generous gift card or a selection of holiday protein.
Staff
Donaida Brito
Diaper Pantry Operation Able Volunteer
Eric DeMoor
Warehouse Associate
Will Donahue
Warehouse Associate
Aidan Ezpeleta
Warehouse Associate
Board of Directors
Jorge Collado
Salem, NH
ADP, Vice President of Sales
Ben Kellman
Andover, MA
Havurat Shalom, President & Teacher (retired)
Christine Lahey (Treasurer)
North Andover, MA
Vice President, Human Resources (retired)
Yesenia Melo
Methuen, MA
Chef and Owner of Jessy’s Place Café & Jessy’s Clean Meals
Julie Prentiss, DVM
Andover, MA
Bulger Animal Clinic, Veterinarian
Giovanna Romero, PhD
Andover, MA
Nichols Brook Family Counseling, Clinical Child Psychologist
Claire Ross (President)
Salem, NH
Human Resources Professional, Retired
Lori St.Cyr (Vice President)
Haverhill, MA
Pfizer, Quality Control Laboratory Manager
Emily Strong
Andover, MA
Lead Gardener, Giving Garden
Rob Thomas (Secretary)
Andover, MA
Attorney, Harvey & Thomas
Advisory Council
- LuAnne Bonanno – Pleasant Valley Gardens
- Julie Brady – Former Board & Merrimack Valley Regional Manager, MVCU
- Janet Clarke – Former Board & Volunteer, Registered Nurse (retired)
- Rachel Combs – Volunteer & South Church, Andover
- Rev. Gabriella Garcia – Minister, Christ United Methodist Church
- Zoe Hastings – Former Board, Teacher
- Jean Kooken – Accountant (retired), St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, North Andover
- Glenn Rogers – Pantry Volunteer, Kiwanis
- Catherine Rosen – The Parish of Christ Church, Andover
Community Partners
Food Pantry Hosts
- Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence
- YWCA-Fina House
- Christ United Methodist Church
- Commonwealth Land Trust–Windsor House
- Valebrook Elder Housing
- Iglesia Adventista Del Septimo dia
- Methuen Arlington Neighborhood, Inc.
- South Church Andover
- First Church Congregational Methuen
- Ministerio Apostólico Jesucristo es el Señor
- City of Methuen
Diaper Bank Agencies
- Community Giving Tree
- National Diaper Bank Network
- Bread & Roses
- Community Kitchen
- Greater Lawrence Community Action Council
- Lazarus House
- People’s Pantry
Farming Partners
- Giving Garden
- Johnson’s Highland View Farm
- Parlee Farms
- Pleasant Valley Gardens
- Stevens-Coolidge House & Gardens
Case Management Partners
- AgeSpan
- Dept. of Children and Families Family Continuity
- Greater Lawrence Family Health Center
- Family Services of the Merrimack Valley
- Healthy Families
- Hennessey School, Lawrence
- Lawrence General Hospital
- Office of Community Corrections
- Partners in Child Development
- SISU
- South Bay Community Services
- VinFen
Thanksgiving/Holiday Meal Contributors
- ADP
- AHS Girls Field Hockey
- ALKU
- Andover/North Andover Empty Nesters
- Andover Fit Body Boot Camp
- Ballard Vale United Church
- Barrows Elementary (Reading)
- Boston Coffee Cake
- Boston Hill Farm
- Boy Scout Troop 75
- Christ Church of Andover
- Congregation Havurat Shalom
- DCU
- Eastern Bank
- Essex County Community Foundation
- Estabrook School (Lexington)
- Eurofins
- First Church Congregational Methuen
- First Congregational Church (Reading)
- First United Methodist Church (N. Andover)
- Forest Street Union Church (Methuen)
- Gemline
- Hiper Global
- Jessica’s Brick Oven Bakery
- Mann Orchards
- The Kindness Collaborative
- LLL Preschool (Andover)
- Muffin Town
- MVCU
- Neighborhood Confetti
- North Parish Junior Youth Group
- Phillips Academy
- Primrose School of Andover
- Reading Cooperative Bank
- Roman Music Therapy
- Rotary Club of Andover
- Rotary Club of Methuen
- South Church of Andover
- Wood Hill Middle School (Andover)
- Table Talk Pies
- Sargent School PTO (North Andover)
- Shawsheen School PTO (Andover)
- St. Micheal Parish (1st & 5th Grade CCD)
- St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (North Andover)
- Temple Emanual Preschool (Andover)
- The Village Food Hub
- Wal-Mart Employees ASR
Volunteer Groups
- ADP
- ALKU
- BBYO
- Baker Tilly
- Merrimack College
- North Parish Jr. Youth Group
- Northern Essex Community College
- Notre Dame Cristo Rey High School
- Notre Dame Education Center
- Opportunity Works
- P&G Gillette
- Pfizer
- Plus Co.
- The Philanthropy Connection
- South Church of Andover
- St. Michael Parish North Andover (Confirmation Classes & Youth Group)
- Top Notch Scholars
Soup’s On! Sponsors
- ALKU
- Bulger Veterinary Hospital
- Dalton & Finegold, LLP
- Harvey And Thomas
- Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union
- Cooperstown Environmental
- Eastern Bank
- Enterprise Bank
- MVCU
- Reading Cooperative Bank
- Salem Five
- The Savings Bank
Soup’s On! Food/Soup Donors
- Blount Fine Foods
- Cedar’s Mediterranean Foods
- Donabedian Brothers
- El Taller & Café Azteca
- Jessica’s Brick Oven Bakery
- Lindt Chocolate
- Lots of Eats
- Pita Thyme
- Pleasant Valley Gardens
- Thai Kitchen
Food & Diaper Drives
- 7-Eleven
- ALKU
- Alert Innovation
- Andover/North Andover Empty Nesters
- Andover Pediatrics
- Alpha Way Training, Inc.
- Ballard Vale Church
- Boy Scout Troop 73
- Boy Scout Troop 77
- Boy Scout Troop 79
- Boy Scout Troop 87 (North Andover)
- Bright Horizons Phillips Academy
- The Caring Closet
- Christ Church of Andover
- Cleaning Authority
- Coldwell Banker Realty (Andover)
- Community Giving Tree
- Communities Together, Inc.
- Congregation Beth Israel
- DCU
- Fed Ex Employees
- First United Methodist Church, North Andover
- Firestone
- Greater Lawrence Family Health Center
- Greater Lawrence Community Action
- Council WIC Office
- High Plain Elementary School
- High Voltage Corn Hole
- ICNA Relief
- IRS Employees Andover
- The Kindness Collaborative
- Lawrence General Hospital Nursing Staff
- Letter Carriers Association (Andover)
- Merrimack College
- Merrimack Valley Christian Men’s Christmas Eve Breakfast
- National Grid
- North Andover Music Association
- Union Congregational Church (North Reading)
- Oak & Iron
- The Philanthropy Connection
- Project 351
- St. Augustine Parish
- St. Robert Bellarmine Church
- Sri Chinmaya Maruti Temple
- Standard Duplicating
- Temple Emmanuel Preschool
- UKG
- Walden Local Meat
- West Elementary (Andover)