Photo of Lydia Edwards, Sandra Aleman-Nijjar, and Pastor Britta Meiers Carlson at the East Boston Community Soup Kitchen by Casey Walker
by Casey Walker
East Boston has always been a diverse neighborhood populated by immigrants, and the area maintains the highest concentration of foreign-born residents in the city of Boston. But as new developments pop up and bring an influx of often affluent newcomers, longtime residents are working to ensure that the community cares for the most economically vulnerable. Many people have founded a network of nonprofits and organizations that focus on offering healthy food to the poor and homeless as well as fight high rates of diabetes and heart disease. These groups are an inspiring example that feel even more vital as our country’s vulnerable populations face an uncertain future.
Every Tuesday, participants and volunteers gather at the East Boston Community Soup Kitchen to cook and share meals donated by local businesses and residents. The soup kitchen’s founder, Sandra Aleman-Nijjar, has been trying to bring attention to the homelessness and addiction problems in East Boston for the past two years. She tried contacting the new residents moving into the area, but no one was willing to take action. So Alleman-Nijjar called on her friend (and head of Boston’s Office of Housing Stability) Lydia Edwards. With Edwards’ guidance, Aleman-Nijjar established the soup kitchen, which opened its doors in September.
“My ultimate goal is for this to be so much more than it is now—I want us to be open every day instead of just one day a week, and doing more to help people get back on their feet,” said Alleman-Nijjar. The soup kitchen feeds approximately 120 people each week and is still growing.
Monica Leitner-Laserna is part of the menu-planning committee for the soup kitchen, in addition to holding other leadership roles in the East Boston activist community. “What’s really nice is that it’s not like any other soup kitchen. You don’t really know who is a participant and who is a volunteer,” she said. “One of our participants has been on disability, but he was a chef for 30 years. Once I learned he had so much experience, I asked him to help out, and now he’s part of the planning committee.” The dinners are held in a church and have the atmosphere of a family potluck, creating a kinship the organizers hope to foster throughout the community.
Leitner-Laserna’s work extends beyond the soup kitchen. In 2014, she opened La Sanghita Café, a worker-owned cooperative restaurant serving organic farm-to-table food. The restaurant is temporarily closed as Leitner-Laserna reworks the business model into what she hopes will be a co-op/nonprofit hybrid. In the interim, La Sanghita preps food for the soup kitchen weekly and hosts hands-on workshops on healthy food practices. The restaurant is part of the Center for Cooperative Development and Solidarity, an organization of cooperative businesses in East Boston where Leitner-Laserna works as the vice president.
She also serves as the vice president of Eastie Farm, a community garden in the Jeffries Point neighborhood. Each week about 40 local volunteers plant, tend and harvest vegetables. The lot was turned into a community garden last year, and this past winter it gained nonprofit status. In April of 2016, Eastie Farm received a Greenovate Award from Boston Mayor Marty Walsh for promoting community and environmental sustainability. “Right now, we’re looking to see if we could expand to other spaces, and do more urban agriculture,” said Leitner-Laserna.
Both Leitner-Laserna and Aleman-Nijjar feel strongly about their mission to create a support system for East Boston residents, starting with food. People of all backgrounds have always had a seat at the table in East Boston—and these nonprofits are making sure those people not only have a seat, but are also being fed.
About the Author
Casey Walker studies nonfiction writing and publishing at Emerson College. She writes for the Boston music blog Allston Pudding and interns for culture: the word on cheese. She loves all things travel, food and music. Follow her @csywlkr.
