Bank of America writes big check to food banks as part of bid to encourage COVID boosters

Bank donates $525,000 to four Mass. food banks

Bank of America encouraged employees in Massachusetts to get a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot by donating $100 to food banks here for each worker who was boosted in January.David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

In its latest push to encourage its workers to get vaccinated, Bank of America has donated $525,000 to four Massachusetts hunger relief organizations on behalf of employees who received a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot.

In January, the banking giant announced that it would donate $100 to local hunger relief organizations for every bank employee in Massachusetts who got a COVID-19 booster shot and reported it to the bank by the end of the month.

Tuesday the company followed up, reporting donations to four organizations that battle food insecurity, at a moment in the pandemic when food banks face increased demand and higher food prices. $225,000 went to the Greater Boston Food Bank, $225,000 to food rescue agency Lovin’ Spoonfuls, $50,000 to the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, and $25,000 to the Worcester County Food Bank.

“Our commitment to help strengthen the communities we live in and serve is unwavering, which is why we are investing in the health, safety and wellbeing of our teammates while also providing funds to help local organizations support our neighbors and fight food insecurity,” said Miceal Chamberlain, the bank’s Massachusetts president, in a press release.

It’s the latest in a string of incentives — ranging from cash to free doughnuts — by large companies to encourage employee vaccination, and it aims at another pressing issue that has intensified in the pandemic: According to Project Bread nearly 16 percent of households in Massachusetts are food insecure.

The company isn’t releasing the number of workers who participated in the booster initiative due to privacy concerns, said the bank’s senior vice president of external communications, Carla Molina, in an e-mail statement. It has just under 4,000 employees in Massachusetts. On top of the money pledged on behalf of employees who reported their booster, Bank of America “made an additional contribution to address the increased need experienced by hunger relief organizations across the country,” the press release stated.

The Massachusetts contribution is part of the bank’s larger $10.6 million donation to food banks and hunger relief organizations across the country, all to encourage employees to get boosted.