For Maria Manus Painchaud, the Capital Region Food Program is a family affair. She served as vice chair under her late father Mark, who helped spearhead the organization. Now, she’s watched her own children join the board.

And in the four decades Painchaud has been involved, the program has evolved from small non-profit that put together holiday food baskets around Christmas time, to a voucher program that served over 1,700 families this past winter.

“This has become a family event in our in our family,” she said. “And we joke about it because we call it the ‘family business’.”

The family business as Painchaud referenced is the Capitol Region Food Program. But before it evolved into the non-profit it is today, it began in 1974 as a collaboration between local churches to provide meals ahead of the holiday season.

Painchaud’s father, who was previously in the restaurant industry, was asked by a friend if he could help provide chickens, turkeys and hams for the inaugural baskets.

That was the start of a decade of involvement in the program – the next year, he became chair of the holiday food basket initiative.

After a decade of providing food baskets to 100 families in Concord, the group realized there was demand to expand the program to surrounding towns. So in 1984, the Capitol Region Food Program was established, and served as an umbrella to the holiday food basket project.

Yet a few years after this, Mark died unexpectedly, while serving as chair. To honor her father, Painchaud stepped in to lead.

“I had a very close relationship with both my parents, they were my best friends”

When she first lead the holiday food basket project, she had a toddler at home. She was also pregnant with her son, who would later be named Mark in honor of his late grandfather.

“My husband was completely supportive and this has become a family event in our in our family,” she said. “Essentially, because of the support and commitment of Steven and my mom, I was able to do what I needed to do.”

Now, her adult kids continue to be involved with the program. Her daughter Elena Alois serves as vice chair, and her son Mark volunteers each year.

“The kids have been involved from the time that they could lift up a can and put it in a box, so that they understood what were we doing and what Christmas was all about, the importance of it,” she said.

Since she was a child, Painchaud learned that the holidays are synonymous with giving back to the community. It is now a lesson she’s passed down to her children, and she’s watching them share the same mantra with her grandchildren.

“My parents had instilled in us if you have an ability, you have an obligation to give back. It is your duty and responsibility to give back to the community,” she said. “And I see that in my children and it brings them joy.”

Under Painchaud’s leadership the project has also taken on a new form. This year, they piloted a new program, providing holiday vouchers instead of packaged baskets.

The program provided recipients a voucher to shop at Market Basket from the beginning of December through the end of January.

“I think over the years what has happened with this program, which is just unbelievable, is the strategic partnerships that have been established, that have allowed it to continue to operate,” she said.

Over 1,700 families received a voucher this year, bringing participation back to pre-pandemic levels.

“With the medical, dietary needs and the cultural dietary needs and the personal choice dietary needs, we couldn’t customize the boxes to meet all those needs,” she said. “Having the voucher program and allowing people the opportunity to choose what’s right for their families, had been really well received by the recipients.”

Implementing these changes would not be possible with out the support of the board, and other volunteers dedicated to the mission of the project, said Painchaud.

“Every year we reaffirm our commitment to being all volunteer… We need to take the money that is being given to us and use it to provide food or the necessary grocery items for those families in need of those individuals in need,” she said. “This is a team effort, a complete commitment, not only by my family, but by so many key volunteers. Without them, it never would have continued.”

And in continuing the program Painchaud knows her father would be proud. He was always the first to say, “how can we do this better,” and with the evolution of the holiday food baskets, she hopes it honors that spirit.

“That is what he would be pleased with,” she said. “There’s so many people that were committed to him, that committed to the organization and continued on. It’s because of them that we were able to get to this point.”

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