By Carol Britton Meyer

An upcoming fundraiser for a program that combats food insecurity in Hull will help residents stretch their food budgets as the holiday season approaches.

The Assisted Living band will play at the C Note on Friday, Nov. 17, as a fundraiser for the Nantasket-Hull Rotary Club’s Stretch Your Food Budget program, which provides many Hull seniors and families with free meal kits during these challenging times.

In addition to donating the proceeds from the concert, raffles and prizes will add to the fun and support SYFB at the same time. Tickets are $15 at the door, with no advance sales. The doors will open at 7 p.m., with the music beginning at 8 p.m.

SYFB was created by Rotarian Dennis Zaia during the height of the COVID19 pandemic with the goal of providing nutritious, protein-laden meals at a time of widespread food insecurity, and has continued ever since.

“There’s a real need in Hull for people of all ages,” SYFB program coordinator Jeff Thiebauth told The Hull Times. “We have about 100 different clients.”

The lively six-member Assisted Living band – which plays favorites from the ’80s and ’90s, with some contemporary tunes mixed in – is pleased to be able to support this effort.

“We had a very busy year playing paid gigs at local clubs, private parties, and even at a wedding on the Cape,” Hull’s David Kellem, who formed the band with two of his “buddies” to beat the middle-age blues more than 10 years ago, told The Hull Times. “We have so much fun playing but individually have been feeling somewhat despondent about the state of humanity and the world, so we wanted to ‘play’ a part in helping people in need. Everyone in the band is very charitable, caring, and giving.”

Included with the SYFB meal kits – which contain all the necessary ingredients for a particular meal – are easy-to-follow directions with a preparation time of fewer that 30 minutes that serve four to five people. The Parrot owner Brian Houlihan helped the SYFB team develop the recipes for the meal kits when the program started.

The support of Hull’s Volunteer Emergency Response Coordinator Craig Wolfe, The Village Market, the South Shore Community Action Council, and other volunteers who are concerned about food insecurity in town are key to this effort. New volunteers are welcome.

The Village Market is the primary source of the non-perishable staples that are used in the meal kits, according to Zaia.

“They have been a valuable contributor to the SYFB program from its inception, allowing us to purchase products at a special rate in a convenient and accessible location,” he said. “The Village Market has demonstrated strong support for the Hull community, and especially for the SYFB program.”

For more details about the SYFB program, including the seven meal kits to choose from, additional weekly items that are available upon request (from hand sanitizer, cereal, and pasta sauce to soup, peanut butter, and canned pumpkin), and how to order meals for delivery, visit https://www.syfb.space. There’s even a box to check off if any dogs are part of clients’ households.

Meal kits are also available at the Ann Scully Senior Center, 197A Samoset Ave., and the Hull Public Library, 9 Main St.

At the fundraiser, silent auction items will include framed prints from Boston-area concerts shot by Thiebauth, who was a freelance photographer for The Boston Phoenix from 1978-1990.

For Assisted Living, the key to holding this event was being able to support a cause where a small amount of money would go a long way.

“The Stretch Your Food Budget program goes right to the heart of food insecurity issues, as well as the human heart,” Kellem said. “The Rotary Club has operated this program somewhat under the radar, so it was a great opportunity to shine some light and help people very directly and impactfully.”

Assisted Living got its start at the C Note when they performed three songs at the 50th birthday party of one of the band member’s wives. At that time, the owner told them if they got better and learned more songs, they could be one of the opening acts.

After practicing and “getting good” at performing 10 songs, the band developed a following.

“Speaking of under the radar, the C Note has quietly been a major resource for charitable giving in Hull,” Kellem noted. “They have supported fundraisers for a broad range of causes: disabled veterans, the Hull High School band, cancer research, Hull Pride, the Hull and Scituate animal shelters, Rolling Wave Foundation, New England MS Society, the Anne Scully Senior Center, and so many more.”

In addition, on the first Friday of every month, the C Note hosts an all-ages concert series that benefits local charities.  For more information about Assisted Living, visit www.assistedlivingtheband.com.

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