Employee activities committees at Whittier Rehabilitation Hospitals in Bradford and Westborough engaged in a friendly challenge to see which facility could collect the most food items to be donated to local emergency food pantries. Food insecurity has reached a critical point throughout the local areas, and the goal was to provide immediate relief to local organizations stocking food pantries and distributing essential food supplies to residents in need.
Employees, patients, and families brought in non-perishable food item donations for the past two weeks. After tallying up the results, Whittier Rehabilitation Hospital-Bradford was declared the winner, with a total of 760 items collected. Whittier Rehabilitation Hospital-Westborough was not far behind, with a total of 711 items. With these donations, both hospitals are able to provide more than 800 meals combined!
While Bradford is proud to have won the food pantry challenge, the most important part is that people who need it are getting fed for the holiday! Whittier Bradford’s donations are going to the Haverhill Citizen’s Center, while those from Westborough are being given to the Worcester County Food Bank. Both hospitals will continue their efforts to collect food, make donations and raise awareness as long as there are food disparities within the community.
On behalf of the Employee Activities Committees, we extend a huge thank you to all staff, patients and family for donating to our food drives. They were quite the success!
The Haverhill Citizen’s Center is located at 10 Welcome Street in Haverhill, MA and can be reached at 978-374-2390.
The Worcester County Food Bank has 98 partners across Worcester County, including food banks, emergency shelters and domestic violence shelters. They can be reached at 508-842-3663 or via their website.
For cash donations, One Haverhill Fund provides ongoing funds to local organizations to stock pantries and support emergency food efforts. People can make donations as individuals and enter a company name if they would like their donations to be a part of a workplace campaign. It is much appreciated by the pantries, especially as donations go down after Thanksgiving. This fund is administered by the United Way of Massachusetts Bay. For more information, check their website here.
Whittier Rehabilitation Hospital-Bradford and Whittier Rehabilitation Hospital-Westborough are part of the Whittier Health Network. Founded by Dr. Alfred L. Arcidi and his sons in 1982, this family-owned healthcare organization provides quality care of the highest caliber. The mission of Whittier Health Network is to provide high quality, comprehensive medical care to all its residents in a warm, compassionate, caring, “family” care setting. The network is composed of acute rehabilitation hospitals, transitional care services, and inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation services.
At Whittier, our goal is to make sure patients have the freedom to make the choices that are important to them and their families.
Top photo: Diane Maltais (Whittier Bradford), Dr. Joan Breen (Whittier Bradford), Public Health Director Mary Connolly, and Krystal Ransom (Whittier Bradford) at the Haverhill Citizen’s Center. Bottom photo: Some of our awesome team at Whittier Westborough! Lindsey Hancock, Kirsten Kamyck-Moulin, Lynne DiMatteo, Scott Clark, Lynn Keeley, Sandra Gilligan-Germain and seated is Lorie Cerone.
