Brookline Resident Wins Volunteer Of The Year Award

BROOKLINE, MA — The Greater Boston Food Bank, the hunger-relief organization in New England, honored Brookline resident Paul Palefski with this year’s Individual Volunteer of the Year Award for making a significant impact at food bank.

The Individual Volunteer of the Year Award was presented at the organization's annual Partner Appreciation Day event on Friday, January 24. Held at the food bank's Boston facility, the event recognizes individuals and organizations who have made invaluable contributions to helping the hunger-relief organization achieve its vision to create a Hunger Free Eastern Massachusetts by 2028, according to a release.

“Paul has been volunteering at [Greater Boston Food Bank] for four years and has dedicated over 600 hours to our hunger-relief efforts,” said Catherine D’Amato, the organization's president and CEO. “He supports us on a weekly basis and is a huge help to the volunteer team as he assists with setup, trains new volunteers, and leads tasks to ensure volunteers are engaged.

Since retiring, Palefski has been dedicated to hunger-relief. He also helps out twice per week at pantry's partner agency Community Servings in Jamaica Plain.

The Greater Boston Food Bank provides nearly 57 million healthy meals annually, distributed through its network of 530 member agencies across Eastern Massachusetts.