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Community Corner

Whole Foods Market raises $85k for Victory Programs' Boston Living Center

LOCAL WHOLE FOODS MARKETS RAISE MORE THAN $85,000 FOR BOSTON LIVING CENTER
Feed4More Register Campaign Brings In Record Breaking Funds for HIV/AIDS Resource Center

Boston, MA (January 13)—For years, during the month of November, local Whole Foods Markets have run a register campaign to raise donations for area nonprofits.  For more than 10 of those years, Victory Programs’ Boston Living Center, New England’s largest community and resource center for people living with HIV/AIDS, has been a beneficiary of the program.  In 2013, the Boston Living Center received the largest donation in the history of their partnership—$85,089—thanks to the efforts of 17 local Whole Foods Market locations in Massachusetts.  The amount was announced during a check presentation at the Boston Living Center on January 7.

“We cannot thank Whole Foods and their amazing customers enough for this gift,” said Victory Programs President & CEO Jonathan Scott.  “The Boston Living Center’s meals program is vital to the health and wellness of more than 1,300 members living with HIV/AIDS. The program serves 40,000 meals annually to our members, most of whom are very low-income or homeless. This incredible donation will help us continue to provide healthy, nutritious meals throughout the year.”

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“Our register donation program is one way that we give our customers the opportunity to help us support the organizations in the communities we serve. We are often overwhelmed by their generosity, as was the case with this year’s fundraising for the Boston Living Center,” says Chuck Olivieri, Marketing Team Leader of Whole Foods Market’s Symphony location in Boston. “We are honored to be able to make such a large donation to an organization that does such important work in our communities.”

This year, the register campaign run by Whole Foods Market transitioned from a local program to a larger corporate effort called Feed4More and took place across the United States and Canada.  At check-out, Whole Foods Market employees solicited donations in the amounts of $5, $10, $20 or a price point of the customer’s choosing. 

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The following Whole Foods Market locations supported the Boston Living Center: Bedford, Boston – Charles River Plaza, Boston – Symphony, Brookline, Cambridge – Fresh Pond, Cambridge – Prospect Street, Cambridge – River Street, Dedham, Framingham, Hingham, Jamaica Plain, Medford, Somerville, Swampscott, Wayland, Wellesley, Woburn.

About the Boston Living Center

The Boston Living Center (BLC), located on Stanhope Street in Boston’s Back Bay, is a nonprofit community and resource center that fosters the wellness of all HIV positive people and responds to the changing needs of the HIV/AIDS community. Through peer leadership and support, the BLC strives to enhance and enrich the lives of its members by providing education, treatment information, and support services with the goal of empowering members to live productive lives and participate within their families and communities.  The BLC officially merged with Victory Programs on March 1, 2012. 

About Victory Programs

Since its inception in 1975, Victory Programs has expanded to 18 health and housing programs in Boston and Cambridge, helping more than 2,600 homeless individuals and families break down barriers to brighter futures. Victory Programs provides services to people who are facing homelessness, addiction, mental illness, or chronic health issues such as HIV/AIDS, providing clients with the tools needed to transition to healthy, self-sufficient lives.   Find more at www.vpi.org.





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