Hopkinton Food Pantry

Families in need may use this form to request food items once each month.

Domestic Abuse Unit Program

After a domestic abuse incident, we help families by providing basic necessities such as toiletries and clothes as well as access to our furniture network to get back on their feet. We even have a room with very special comfort items just for the kids when they come out of their home and go to a safe house. As always, this program is completely confidential and private.

Community Service Programs

What better way to teach your children a sense of community then to get them involved in helping others your area? The Community Service Program is a year-round effort to allow people to make a real difference. For instance, children in our towns have done a wonderful job in the past by collecting cans, returning them for deposit money and using the cash to buy toiletries for the Project Just Because, Inc. donations.

Children and families can also learn a skill, such as making a blanket, which would be given to families struggling during the harsh New England winters. Children, families and seniors can help us help others year-round with community service efforts.

Examples of community service ideas:
1. Have a party, and when sending an invitation have the hostess gift be a charitable item or monetary gift for Project Just Because, Inc.
2. Take a gently-used basket, recycle it, and put new items in it for use in kitchen, bath and reading activities.

Career Center Program

Give a man a fish and you have fed him for one day. Teach him to fish and you have fed him for a lifetime.

One of the most important long-term ways we support our community is by helping people in need help themselves. Project Just Because, Inc. provides counseling for job interviews, assistance with resumes as well as clothing for job interviews and business wear. Helping people get past some of the barriers to a better job is a key component of helping improve their lives.

Basket of Love Program

Getting a gift is something everyone sometimes take for granted. When you’re in need, receiving a gift can provide an overwhelmingly positive feeling. The Basket of Love Program is offered to a family as a gift throughout the year. These baskets contain items that fit a family's specific profile. People donate large clean baskets which are then filled to meet certain family needs and necessities. So many people have benefited by this program including people who have hit upon hard times, those facing illness, seniors who can not go out, etc. All baskets are filled with new items and are specially made by wonderful volunteers.

Senior Program

For our seniors who cannot get to the Project’s many centers or church halls, we go to them and bring them items from our donations stock. This program is so rewarding for those who help, and it provides such a valuable service to our seniors in need. Basic supplies can be hard to come by if a senior has financial or health burdens that make it difficult or impossible to supply themselves.

Keep a Family & Child Warm Program

We all sometimes struggle gearing up for winter. Helping those who may have more difficulty is especially gratifying. In the fall we supply blankets, winter coats, hats, mittens and other winter clothes to help those facing a long cold winter in need. This program is available from September till the end of October.

Sponsorship Program (Year Round)

When a family in need has special basic requests that we cannot meet from our Project Centers, that family can be sponsored by a person who goes and gets the exact items needed. It is very special when a family helps deliver specific help to a family in need. Started years ago as a holiday program, it was so popular that we decided to extend it year-round. The response has been great. There have been many tears shed as a family provides a list of items. These items are as basic as clean underwear and socks, but the hearts of all who continue to offer to get involved in this program know the rewards are so special. This is the dream team which people can join any time. As part of our strict privacy guidelines, no names are ever given – specific needs are addressed by identifying recipients only by gender, age, etc.

Donor families often will try to help a family in need with children the same age as kids in their family. This helps teach understanding, compassion and how to help those who are less fortunate.

Via Friend Program

Any time of the year, if you know of a family in need that is too shy to come in for help, you can come in for them as a friend. No forms, no questions, just pick up what is needed and drop it off to them from your heart.

Educational Program

We provide children in need year round with a new book, educational software, dictionaries and other educational items. While their families are struggling, it’s very important we support the educational opportunities of these youngest victims of circumstance.

Heart Card Program

When disaster strikes, whether a natural disaster like the Asian Tsunami in 2004 or a crisis closer to home, children need to express themselves. We created this program where children write cards to be delivered directly to the survivors of disaster. After the Tsunami, we organized a large letter-writing campaign and got hundreds of cards to children in Indonesia in their native language. (We had a templated card in the language that the children here copied.)