A new chapter for Food Circle
Food Circle was founded at UCCN in 1994 by Sewall Champion and for the subsequent 32 years has lived and evolved under the auspices of the Mission + Outreach ministry team. In recent years, in light of the fact that food insecurity is an issue of justice, Carl Isihara, co-chair of the Racial/Social Justice ministry team, has served as both intrepid manager of Food Circle and one of ~15 volunteers who deliver donated food 7 days a week from Stop ‘ Shop and Panera to Father Bill’s & Mainspring in Brockton, Yawkey Resource Center in Quincy, and L Street in Brockton. In addition to managing all the logistics involved, Carl keeps us inspired with updates like this one in December 2025: “We delivered a record 10,540 pounds of groceries in the first 1/2 of December to MainSpring House & the Yawkey Housing Resource Center!”
Recently, Carl was informed by Rachel Miller, Director of Volunteer Services at Father Bill’s & Mainspring, that the organization is transitioning away from our donation stream due to the high volume of items that they unfortunately cannot utilize. In an effort to keep the Stop & Shop and Panera donation stream from being discarded, Carl immediately sought another relationship.
Happily, Carl connected with Pam Denholm, Executive Director of the South Shore Food Bank (SSFB) in Rockland, and identified a solution working through their Food Rescue Program. According to the SSFB website, in 2023 nearly 216,000 lbs. of high-quality food was rescued from local grocery stores, accounting for 26% of all food distributed through their program. Our volunteer team has begun delivering Stop & Shop and Panera donations to SSFB at 40E Reservoir Park Drive in Rockland.
We honor our 32-year relationship with Father Bill’s & Mainspring and celebrate this new relationship with SSFB as a viable way to continue helping to rescue food from the landfills and alleviate food insecurity on the South Shore. We also thank Carl Isihara for his tireless dedication to this important ministry.
If you’d like to join Food Circle as a volunteer, please contact Carl.
Picture: Mark Newby, a Food Circle volunteer, unloads bread for delivery.