About Us

Our Vision

Neighbors In Need (NIN) 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

We are 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

Our organization 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.

NIN helps over 700 children 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 180,000 diapers annually, through five partner agencies.

Our Programs

We distribute 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 225,861 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.