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Lawrence, Massachusetts, is one of the poorest cities in the United States, and is the poorest in Massachusetts.

Lawrence has a population of just over 71,000 people, 70 percent of whom are Hispanic. An amazing 27 percent of the people of Lawrence live below the poverty line. Of children under age 18 in Lawrence, 37 percent live in households below the poverty line, as do 23 percent of people age 65 and over.

The combination of economic poverty and an unusually expensive housing market leaves many people in Lawrence without enough money to adequately feed themselves. The majority of those who are hungry are members of families who work and do not earn enough income to pay for both housing and food.

Approximately 75 percent of school-age children in Lawrence qualify for government-subsidized food programs – meaning that three out of four children in Lawrence are at risk for hunger.

The Cor Unum Meal Center arose from the vision of a group of men and women from St. Patrick Parish in South Lawrence who in 2001 were moved by compassion to respond concretely to the growing needs of the hungry in their city. After five years of research, planning, and the process of construction, their vision resulted in the completion of the Cor Unum Meal Center.

Cor Unum is a not-for-profit meal center located in South Lawrence that provides free, nutritious meals in a safe environment to the working poor, families with children, the homeless, and the lonely – anyone who is in need of food, regardless of race, color, creed, sex, or way of life.

The Cor Unum Meal Center serves hundreds of people at each meal, 365 days a year. Cor Unum has a small core staff and relies upon a wide volunteer base for the provision of all of its services. St. Patrick Parish, under which Cor Unum is organized, has Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.

The Cor Unum Meal Center very powerfully responds to the urgent need to feed the hungry in Lawrence, lovingly welcoming all people, providing nourishment for the bodies and souls of all who are in need.

About Labels Are For Jars
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Labels is the brainchild of a team that includes late-night funnyman Conan O’Brien, MLB All-Star Sean Casey, celebrated brand designer Mike Toth, and Father Paul B. O’Brien. The group launched Labels Are For Jars as a unique means of raising money to feed hungry people through the Cor Unum Meal Center.

Labels markets a thought-provoking black t-shirt that is adorned with a commonly used label on the chest, and “Labels Are For Jars” across the back. Currently available shirts are “addict”, “geek”, “homeless”, “jock”, “minority”, “prisoner”, “mentally ill”, “pacifist”, “slacker”, and “troubled teen”. The Labels line also includes the Labels Skull Cap by John Varvatos, personally created by one of today’s most celebrated fashion designers, John Varvatos. The black wool cap has a “hungry” label on the front and the Labels Are For Jars and John Varvatos logos on the back.

In the summer of 2009, five Boston Red Sox players launched Labels’ “Hit for Hunger” campaign. Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, David Ortiz, Jonathan Papelbon, and Dustin Pedroia released Labels’ “Hit for Hunger” shirts - available in red and blue – which display each player’s name and number, as well as the “Hit for Hunger” and Labels Are For Jars logos.

Labels shirts and caps are packaged in clear plastic jars with coin slots cut into the screw tops. Buyers are encouraged to use the jars at home, school, or work to collect as much money as they can. When the jars are filled, buyers send their donations in the form of a check or money order to Labels Are For Jars.

The shirts are sold from our website and through direct sales groups in local communities called street teams. Street teams are primarily groups of high school and college students, who have a unique power to affect change in our society.

Labels Are For Jars is comprised completely of volunteers, so every cent we collect is used to help feed the hungry in Lawrence.

About Cor Unum
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At the end of 2001, a small group of men and women who shared a common concern about hunger in Lawrence began to explore in depth the reality of hunger in their city. They reviewed existing anti-hunger efforts in Lawrence, speaking at length with the leaders of food programs, government and private social service organizations, local health care institutions, and schools. After extensive research, it was determined that there was a compelling need for additional food for the hungry and a significant demand for a meal center to be established in South Lawrence. Community leaders generously offered their support for a new effort that might address the challenges at hand.

In the spring of 2002, this new effort took the form of a committee that proceeded with the planning and organization of what emerged as the Cor Unum Meal Center. (“Cor Unum” means “One Heart” in Latin.) By the end of the planning process, it was concluded that more than $1.5 million would be needed to build the Cor Unum Meal Center – a very ambitious goal!

In the autumn of 2004, a campaign was launched to raise $1.5+ million for the construction of Cor Unum, with Labels Are For Jars at the center of the pursuit of the mission.

In September of 2005, the fundraising goal for the construction of Cor Unum was reached! Thanks to the sacrifice of individuals, foundations, businesses, and the extraordinary number of people connected with Cor Unum through Labels Are For Jars, what had seemed by many to be an unreachable goal became a reality.

With the achievement of the construction goal, Labels embraced the mission of helping raise by September 2006 $400,000 to fund Cor Unum’s operational expenses.

Construction of the Cor Unum Meal Center was completed in September 2006, allowing the doors of the state-of-the-art center to be opened on September 30, 2006 for the serving of meals. The fantastic news was that the $400,000 goal for operational expenses was reached. Once again, the supporters of Cor Unum and Labels Are For Jars achieved what had seemed to many to be an unachievable goal!

Between October 2006 and January 2007, dinner service at Cor Unum expanded from three to seven nights a week. Breakfast service began in May 2007 and reached a full seven-days-a-week schedule in August 2007. By the time of the center’s first anniversary in September 2007, more than 100,000 meals had been served at the Cor Unum Meal Center.

From the first days of the operation of Cor Unum, it has been clear that its leaders’ assessment of the nutritional needs of the Lawrence community has been very much on target. By the time of the center’s fourth anniversary in September 2010, more than 600,000 meals had been served at the Cor Unum Meal Center. At the current rate of meal service, more than 200,000 meals are served annually at Cor Unum.

Labels Are For Jars is committed to raising the funds needed to keep Cor Unum thriving. Through Labels Are For Jars, people who want to change the world by feeding the hungry are able to do so in Lawrence, MA.

For more information please visit www.corunummealcenter.org

About Lawrence
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Popularly called “The Immigrant City” since its foundation in the 1840’s, Lawrence has undergone during the last 40 years significant demographic changes, including large increases in its Hispanic population. The following statistics (unless otherwise cited, drawn from the United States Census Bureau’s 2006-2008 American Community Survey report) offer a concise sketch of Lawrence today:

Lawrence has an estimated population of 71,234.
Approximately 70 percent of the population is Hispanic or Latino.
Among people at least five years old, 74 percent speak a language other than English at home. 92 percent of these people speak Spanish, and 38 percent report that they speak English less than “very well”.
63 percent of households with children under 18 years of age are headed by individuals with no spouse present (single women head 80 percent of these households; single men head 20 percent).

Lawrence faces tremendous economic challenges that have an enormous impact on people’s ability to sufficiently feed themselves:

Lawrence has an average per capita income of $16,080 – only 48 percent of the statewide average per capita income of $33,806.
The median household income in Lawrence is $32,007 – 49 percent of the average statewide median household income of $64,684.
Of Lawrence’s people, 27 percent live below the poverty line, compared with 10 percent of the statewide population.
An overwhelming 37 percent of children under age 18 in Lawrence live in households below the poverty line, as compared to 13 percent of children under age 18 statewide.
A sobering 23 percent of people age 65 and over in Lawrence live below the poverty line, as compared to 10 percent of people age 65 and over statewide.

Eastern Massachusetts is one of the most expensive housing markets in the country. Lawrence has a significant housing shortage, leading to disproportionately expensive housing costs. Many of the residents of Lawrence are forced to choose to pay for housing rather than for food.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s “Massachusetts Births 2008” report (released in March 2010) reveals the startling social and health care conditions in which the majority of children in Lawrence are born:

In 2008, 73 percent of the babies born in Lawrence were born to unmarried mothers, as compared to 34 percent of babies statewide.
Lawrence’s teen birth rate in 2008 was 81 births per 1,000 females aged 15-19, which is four times the statewide average of 20 births per 1,000 females aged 15-19.
77 percent of Lawrence’s women who gave birth in 2008 relied on public payment for prenatal care, as compared to 35 percent of women statewide.

On the educational front, Lawrence faces daunting challenges. In 2008, only 36 percent of eligible students graduated from high school. The school district’s drop-out rate in 2008-2009 was more than three and a half times the state’s average. In the 2009 Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests, the Lawrence Public Schools ranked either last or close-to-last at every grade level in every subject tested.

Lawrence, MA is a wonderful city with a rich history, a vibrant population, dedicated leaders, and development projects that offer hope for the future. It is also a city with dramatic socioeconomic problems that must be addressed not just in the future, but today.

About Hunger
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Hunger exists everywhere. Hunger does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, or sex. It affects our children, the unemployed, the disabled, the homeless, and the working poor.

Hunger happens in communities all around Massachusetts, even if it is not always visible. Hunger is a reality in Lawrence, MA.

The statistics that perhaps most shockingly reveal the reality of hunger in Lawrence, MA are those that are released through the city’s annual studies of school-age children. In recent years, those studies have consistently indicated that approximately 75 percent of school-age children qualify for government-subsidized food programs. This means that three out of four children in Lawrence are at risk for hunger.

If all people are created equal, and if all people have the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, much more must be done by all of us to feed the hungry in Lawrence.

In Lawrence today, thousands of men, women, and children do not have enough to eat. Without having enough to eat, children are unable to learn in school. Families are unable to break cycles of tension and violence. Young men and women are unable to reject the money offered to them through prostitution and illegal drug sales and other crimes. People of all ages are unable to resist the numbing effects of drug and alcohol abuse. While no one argues that hunger is the single cause of the multitude of social problems in Lawrence, unless the reality of hunger is concretely addressed, the city’s social problems will not only continue, but will deepen.

Labels Are For Jars is eliminating hunger in Lawrence.

About St. Patrick's
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Saint Patrick Parish is a remarkably dynamic community in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

Founded in 1872 to serve the needs of a primarily Irish immigrant population, St. Patrick’s has evolved into a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-generational family in the growing Lawrence community.

At St. Patrick’s, more than 2000 people worship each week in three languages — English, Spanish, and Vietnamese. More than 1,000 parish volunteers coordinate approximately 75 ministries and organizations that involve people of all ages and needs. Every year, more and more parishioners sacrifice their time and talent in programs of spiritual development, youth ministry, adult education, pastoral care, and social service outreach. St. Patrick’s is a sponsoring parish for Lawrence Catholic Academy, which educates approximately 500 children in nursery school through eighth grade. Students at the school represent the full ethnic, linguistic, religious, and economic diversity of the people of Lawrence.

St. Patrick’s parishioners focus much attention on the social needs of the City of Lawrence. A wonderful city, Lawrence faces very significant challenges economically, socially, academically, and spiritually. Certain problems in Lawrence — including poverty, hunger, drug addiction, teenage pregnancy, the breakdown of families, and violence — can sometimes seem so enormous as to be insurmountable. It is this type of adversity that serves as the foundation for the people and supporters of St. Patrick’s to have created the Cor Unum Meal Center and Labels Are For Jars projects.

In the midst of the darkness experienced by many in Lawrence, St. Patrick’s is a bright light. At St. Patrick’s, it is believed that deep challenges should be viewed with hope as opportunities for a better future.

To learn more about St. Patrick’s, please go to the parish’s website, saintpatrickparish.com