Our History

In January of 2008 I was watching the Presidential Debates. The candidates were talking about change. I asked myself what I could do to bring about change without waiting a year for a new President. I opened my cabinet and there it was, a fishbowl full of change. I wondered if I had this much spare change maybe others did as well. The next morning I saw a few friends and asked what they thought of collecting spare change and donating it to the local food pantries. I did not know until recently that the food pantries in all our communities were struggling to keep their shelves stocked. Marianne Snow our Vice President and Judy Bousquin our Neighborhood Outreach Director called me right away and said "Let's meet."

We began by defining our Mission Statement, then it was on to a name. Marianne Snow suggested "Gathering Change." The name was perfect. We brought on board our talented Graphic Artist and Publicity Director, Yvonne Blacker who designed our logo and all the publicity information representing Gathering Change. 

During the months of May and June of 2008, we had four launch events to introduce Gathering Change, fill our officer and board of director positions and recruit volunteers. We are proud to say that a very talented and hard working group of compassionate individuals have joined our organization; See our Officers/ Board of Directors. Most importantly we recruited over 150 volunteers in over 35 Massachusetts Communities. This list continues to grow daily.

We became an official 501(c)3 non profit organization in July of 2008. Our website came online later that year. We blog at gatheringchangeinc.blogspot.com where our board members take turns submitting articles. In addition, we welcome guest bloggers. We also have a Monthly Newsletter, "Speaking of Change." This newsletter allows us to keep you all informed about past, present and future events. We also use this opportunity to update hunger facts.