Recipient Spotlight: East Boston Community Soup Kitchen
This week, we are sharing a guest article from our summer dietetics intern, Carly von Halle. Over the summer, Carly supported our Roxbury operations through analyzing our warehouse rescue processes, aiding our Boston volunteer recruitment, and examining our community partner impact. Continue reading to learn more about Carly’s experience visiting East Boston Community Soup Kitchen, one of our newest partnerships through our Roxbury operations.
My name is Carly von Halle, and I am a Master of Public Health and Nutrition student at UMass Lowell. This summer, I had the opportunity to intern at Food Link's Roxbury location, where I learned how Food Link partners with community organizations to increase access to high-quality food across Greater Boston. In that role, I visited East Boston Community Soup Kitchen (EBCSK), a nonprofit organization that provides groceries, hot meals, and supportive services such as housing assistance and addiction recovery. The opening of Food Link's Roxbury location made it possible to begin delivering food to EBCSK, which had previously been on the recipient waitlist. Today, EBCSK is one of Food Link's largest recipient agencies, receiving 71,874 pounds of food between January 2026 and September 2026.
When I arrived, I was greeted by Founder and Executive Director Sandra Nijjar, who was leading a team of volunteers as they assembled bags of food for distribution. What I observed was a typical Monday afternoon at EBCSK: 40+ volunteers packing grocery bags with vegetables, fruit, meat, snacks, bread, and drinks. The bags were first sorted by whether they contained meat and then further sorted by the type of meat, including 40 halal bags. Volunteers arrived at 8 a.m. on Mondays to prepare approximately 650 bags of food before distribution began. Distribution of the bags began at 1 p.m., but Sandra and the other EBCSK staff started handing out numbered tickets at 9 a.m. on a first-come, first-served basis.
Image Description: Prepared bags of halal foods at East Boston Community Soup Kitchen.
On Tuesdays, EBCSK hosts a hot breakfast for anyone in the community. The tables were decorated with flowers and tablecloths to create a welcoming, restaurant-style atmosphere. Volunteers prepared and served the hot breakfast, and later, EBCSK offered a hot lunch donated by local restaurants and food wholesalers.
One of its regular partners is Channel Fish, a family-owned seafood wholesaler that donated fresh meals for guests to enjoy. East Boston Community Soup Kitchen receives donations from several organizations and companies, including Food for Free, Target, local bakeries, and Food Link.
During my visit, I was struck by the strong sense of community and purpose that filled the space. EBCSK was focused not only on providing food to its community, but also on creating a space where people could access various resources and form connections. The organization offers haircuts, celebrates birthdays, hosts bingo games, and maintains a garden where community members can pick fresh herbs, cherry tomatoes, hot peppers, and other produce.
Food Link recipients are as varied as the food they provide. The one thing they all have in common is their commitment to help alleviate food insecurity by distributing rescued nutritious food to those in need across Greater Boston.
If you would like to assist Food Link’s Roxbury operations so we can support more partners like East Boston Community Soup Kitchen, please consider making a gift or signing up to volunteer. Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media to keep up with all Food Link news. If you have any questions, email us at info@foodlinkma.org or call us at 781-819-4225.