[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 93 (Monday, June 2, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S3168]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO CATHERINE REED

 Ms. HASSAN. Mr. President, I am honored to recognize Catherine 
Reed of Hanover as May's Granite Stater of the Month. Catherine started 
a food pantry, called the Food-is-Medicine Pantry, at the Dartmouth 
Cancer Center when she saw how many of her cancer patients needed food 
assistance.
  Three years ago, Catherine was working at the Dartmouth Cancer Center 
as a social worker when she discovered that there was a significant gap 
in resources for her patients. She was helping a patient get assistance 
with paying for rent, car payments, and fuel oil, but learned that the 
patient was also struggling to afford their groceries. Catherine 
realized that there were very few options for food assistance for her 
patients, and the stigma surrounding food insecurity stopped many of 
her patients from asking for help. Catherine decided to take action, 
and with the help of a coworker Chelsey Canavan, Catherine secured 
funding for a food pantry at the Dartmouth Cancer Center, with fresh 
and healthy donations provided by a local nonprofit organization.
  Catherine knew that in order for the food pantry to improve the lives 
of her patients, she needed to make sure that anyone who needed help 
was comfortable asking for it. She explained to her patients that 
proper nutrition is a part of the treatment for their cancer because 
the stronger that someone goes into treatment, the stronger they can 
come out of it. Catherine took grocery orders from her patients daily 
and delivered the groceries to people's cars before they left in order 
to make things as easy as possible for them.
  Catherine saw firsthand the difference that food assistance makes for 
cancer patients. She began working to expand the food pantry program, 
including collecting data, presenting a poster at an oncology 
conference, contacting a hospital in Tennessee to learn about their 
food pantry so that she could model best practices, and creating a 
referral system to bring more patients into the program. The program's 
eligibility has grown to include all patients at the center, and for 
each patient who chooses to participate, their entire family is 
provided with fresh and healthy food harvested and delivered by local 
organizations.
  Catherine's attentiveness to her patients is a great example of the 
Granite State spirit of going above and beyond for your community. She 
saw a problem and did not look around for someone else to solve it. She 
got to work. Her determination and her compassion is why I am proud to 
name her May's Granite Stater of the Month.

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