Free Groceries Come to Central Falls Parks Aug. 12

Central Falls residents can pick up free groceries from a new city mobile food pantry starting Wednesday, Aug. 12, when the truck stops at Jenks Park at 5 p.m.

The city announced the program in a release dated Aug. 4 and held a ribbon-cutting Tuesday with the Central Falls Foundation and the Centreville Bank Charitable Foundation. A second distribution is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 19, at Veterans Memorial Park, also at 5 p.m. Both stops run until supplies run out.

Only Central Falls residents are eligible for the food. Anyone planning to visit must bring a photo ID and proof of address, along with their own grocery bag.

The idea is straightforward: instead of asking residents to travel to a fixed pantry site, the vehicle brings groceries to neighborhoods, senior housing and community centers. City officials have framed the effort around transportation, arguing that getting to a pantry is a real obstacle for seniors and working parents.

"No one in our city should have to worry about where their next meal is coming from," Mayor Maria Rivera said in the city's announcement. "Our new Mobile Food Pantry is about removing those barriers and making sure our neighbors have what they need."

More than 5,000 Central Falls residents, including thousands of children, rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the federal food benefit commonly known as SNAP, according to the city. State-level figures put Central Falls among the highest-enrollment communities in Rhode Island, at roughly 22 percent of households, behind Woonsocket and Providence. Rhode Island Food Policy Council data show an average of 16.3 percent of Rhode Island households received SNAP benefits between 2020 and 2024.

The pantry is not paid for with city tax dollars. The Centreville Bank Charitable Foundation, the giving arm of the West Warwick-based mutual bank, put up $100,000 to launch it, part of a broader $180,000 commitment to food-insecurity work in Rhode Island and Connecticut, with the remaining $80,000 going to local pantries. That donation was announced in November 2025, roughly nine months before the vehicle hit the street.

Bridgette Duquette, CEO of the Central Falls Foundation, called the donation "a transformative investment for the Central Falls Mobile Food Pantry" and said reaching the milestone would have been difficult without it. The Foundation, a nonprofit that has worked in the city since 1995 on social services and housing, is posting the distribution schedule on its social media accounts.

U.S. Rep. Gabe Amo, who represents the district, attended Tuesday's ceremony and described the mission as improving access and reducing barriers — barriers, he said, created by the work day and by transportation.

A few things the announcement does not answer. The city has not released a schedule beyond the two August dates, nor has it detailed how the pantry will operate once the initial grant is spent. The funding covers the purchase, outfitting, staffing and first-year operations of the vehicle; no multi-year budget has been made public. Nor is there public information yet on how the mobile route will coordinate with the stationary pantries already serving the city.

This is the first mobile pantry in Central Falls, not the first food assistance. Stationary pantries continue to operate in and around the city, and the mobile program is positioned as an addition to them rather than a replacement.

Residents who want the full distribution schedule can follow the Central Falls Foundation, which is publishing dates as they are set. The next stop is Jenks Park on Aug. 12 at 5 p.m.