From Our Readers

Holiday Appeal
Dear Editor
Happy holidays! As you know from reading about our work in the community, many of the 2,400 clients we serve a year
in the North End, West End, and surrounding neighborhoods are immigrants, elderly, non-English speaking, homebound,
disabled, and alone.
The holidays are wonderful, but many of the seniors who flock to our doors need the comfort of family, friends, and a
warm place to visit and enjoy their peers and a home-cooked meal. The NE/WE NSC is their family. That is why we try to
make our Thanksgiving and December holiday parties special for the elderly who come to us. The kitchen is busy and
hectic, like any other holiday kitchen. The smells of meatballs and gravy fill the air and our volunteers personally serve our
guests and welcome them.
We are asking you to please send a donation in the largest amount you can comfortably afford today. The NE/WE NSC
realizes that you are faced with many hard choices this holiday season and thank you for making it possible for us to make
available the precious, sustainable gift of food to your neighbors. A $50 contribution would provide two bags of fresh and
non-perishable groceries for an elderly man or woman living alone…$100 would purchase 4 holiday food baskets for
homebound seniors who have no visitors…$500 would provide a homemade, 4 course lunch for two crowds of roughly 100
persons each… and of course we welcome any donation, large or small. And of course in addition to meals, you will also
help fund critical programs-including meals, food pantries, fuel assistance, housing, and much more- which keep the elders
in the neighborhoods they have called home their whole lives.
Should you wish to make a donation, please mail to:
The North End/West End Neighborhood Service Center
1 Michelangelo Street
Boston, MA 02113
With appreciation,
Maria Stella Gulla
Director