Community is strongest when people show up for one another.
This September, Garden Remedies is proud to spotlight La Colaborativa as our latest Puff Puff Give recipient, recognizing an organization doing exactly that for families and individuals throughout Greater Boston.
Based in Chelsea, La Colaborativa works alongside the region’s growing Latinx community across Chelsea, Revere, Everett, Lynn, and East Boston. From putting fresh food on families’ tables to helping workers recover stolen wages, its work is rooted in addressing the challenges community members face today while building toward a stronger future.
It’s grassroots, hands-on community work—and exactly the kind of local impact Puff Puff Give was created to celebrate.
Meet La Colaborativa
La Colaborativa takes a comprehensive approach to strengthening its community.
Rather than focusing on one individual issue, the organization recognizes that challenges like food insecurity, housing instability, employment, education, and health are often interconnected.
Its work spans stabilization services, health equity, youth development, economic development, education, workforce support, and community organizing.
That means helping a family access food can happen alongside assisting a tenant facing unsafe housing conditions. Workforce development can happen alongside English-language education. Youth mentorship can help develop the next generation of community leaders.
It’s a model designed to address root causes while giving people access to resources they can use right now.
Fresh Food for the Community
One of the most visible examples of La Colaborativa’s work happens every week.
On Wednesdays and Fridays, the organization operates a community food pantry providing families with access to fresh, culturally relevant foods.
It’s part of an ongoing effort that has helped provide more than 100,000 meals to families in need.
Food insecurity can affect nearly every other part of someone’s life, and consistent access to
fresh food can provide stability when families are navigating difficult circumstances.
But food access is only one piece of the work happening at La Colaborativa.
Building Stability Beyond the Pantry
Throughout the community, La Colaborativa works to help people build greater stability and advocate for themselves and their families.
That includes free English and citizenship courses, job placement assistance, workforce development, and support for tenants facing eviction or unsafe housing conditions.
The organization has also helped workers recover millions of dollars in stolen wages, advocating for people whose work was not fairly compensated.
For young people, mentorship and job training programs create another path forward. More than 4,100 youth leaders have been developed through La Colaborativa’s programs, helping young people gain experience, build skills, and become active participants in their communities.
Put it all together and you begin to see why the word Colaborativa fits so well.
This work is about people working together.
Local Solutions Built With the Community
Chelsea and the surrounding communities are home to vibrant immigrant and Latinx populations that have helped shape the culture of Greater Boston.
La Colaborativa’s approach is built from within those communities.
Whether the need is food, housing advocacy, employment assistance, education, health equity, or an opportunity for a young person to develop leadership skills, the organization works alongside community members to create solutions that reflect the realities of the people they serve.
That’s the kind of impact we want more people to know about.
Why Puff Puff Give?
Puff Puff Give is Garden Remedies’ ongoing commitment to highlighting and supporting organizations doing meaningful work in our local communities.
Each month, we select a different nonprofit or community organization and use Puff Puff Give as an opportunity to introduce our customers to the people behind that work.
Sometimes that means animal welfare.
Sometimes it’s food access.
Sometimes it’s education, housing, youth development, or community advocacy.
And sometimes, as with La Colaborativa, it’s all of those things working together.
Our goal is simple: use the community we’ve built around Garden Remedies to shine a brighter light on organizations strengthening the communities around us.
September Is for La Colaborativa
More than 100,000 meals provided.
Millions of dollars in stolen wages recovered.
More than 4,100 youth leaders developed.
And every Wednesday and Friday, the work continues.
We’re excited to welcome La Colaborativa as our September Puff Puff Give recipient and help more members of the Garden Remedies community discover the incredible work happening right in our backyard.
Throughout September, choose a Puff Puff Give product and support a local cause.
And take a few minutes to visit La Colaborativa’s website and social channels to learn more about its programs, see the work firsthand, and discover more ways to get involved.
Puff Puff Give. Local products. Local organizations. Local impact.
