Lifelong Learning Answers the Call of Central Valley Nonprofits’ Urgent Appeal

FRESNO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 17, 2025--

The Central Valley of California is one of the most productive agricultural regions in the U.S., yet many of its residents experience food insecurities. Nearly a fifth of Fresno County residents live below the poverty level 1 and with the rising cost of housing, groceries and utilities, many are often stretched beyond their financial limits.

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Lifelong Learning Administration Corporation, a nonprofit that provides administrative and operational support to schools, has answered the calls for help from local organizations that provide meals, groceries and other wraparound services. Central California Food Bank and Poverello House will be gifted donations totaling $30,000 to further their missions to support community members in need.

“Our partner schools like Learn4Life have campuses often located in communities with significant socioeconomic challenges and nonprofits like these have been a lifesaver for many of the students our work supports,” explained Pete Faragia, CEO of Lifelong Learning and longtime Fresno resident. “I often think about the plight of students being expected to learn when they’re unsure of when or where their next meal will come from. I appreciate the essential work of Central California Food Bank and Poverello House at this time of year and beyond.”

Central California Food Bank works with a network of more than 270 member partners — including schools, churches, community centers and other organizations. Their work across Fresno, Tulare, Kings, Madera and Kern Counties provides nutritious food to children, families and seniors through food pantries, school meal programs, food distributions and grocery-box pick-ups.

“This generous donation will allow us to provide up to 60,000 meals,” said Natalie Caples, co-CEO of the Central California Food Bank. “This has been an especially challenging year for our neighbors who struggle to meet basic needs of their families, so we are grateful for the generosity of our community and organizations like Lifelong Learning to aid in our mission.”

Since the early 1970s, Poverello House has provided essential, compassionate support such as food, shelter, hygiene and pathways to rehabilitation and permanent housing. Social services provided include housing referrals, clothing, showers and laundry, substance-abuse rehabilitation and case management.

“We provide three hot meals a day, 365 days a year, and the demand for our help has only grown this holiday season,” explained Poverello House CEO Zackary Darrah. “The donation from Lifelong Learning will provide 5,000 meals to the families and individuals we are trying to warm during the coldest month of the year.”

Both organizations rely on the generosity of companies and individuals to sustain essential services for residents of the Central Valley, underscoring the ongoing need for support in the communities they serve. To make a donation, please visit Central California Food Bank or Poverello House.

About Lifelong Learning

Lifelong Learning provides services and support to schools that educate students through a personalized learning model. As a nonprofit, Lifelong Learning is dedicated to empowering other nonprofits and educational organizations that work to enrich lives and communities. For more information, please visit www.llac.org.

About Central California Food Bank

Central California Food Bank (CCFB) is the region’s largest nonprofit organization focused solely on ending hunger. CCFB has experienced tremendous growth since its beginning in 1992 and now serves as the center of a vast network of more than 270 member partners, including schools, churches, community kitchens, and more, to provide nutritious food to our neighbors in need throughout Fresno, Madera, Tulare, Kings and Kern Counties.

Through our comprehensive hunger-relief programs and services, we distribute nearly 60 million pounds of food to families in need each year, serving more than 320,000 people each month, including more than 100,000 children across our service area. This is indicative of the 1 in 4 adults and 1 in 3 children that face food insecurity in Central California. For more information about what Central California Food Bank is doing to fight hunger, visit www.ccfoodbank.org.

About Poverello House

Poverello House is a Fresno-based nonprofit dedicated to serving individuals and families experiencing homelessness, hunger and hardship. Founded in 1973 by “Papa Mike” McGarvin, Poverello House began as a grassroots effort to offer meals, compassion and dignity to those in need. More than five decades later, it has grown into a vital community hub providing daily hot meals, shelter, safe respite, clothing, hygiene services, rehabilitation programs, and comprehensive support that helps guests take steps toward stability and self-sufficiency.

Each year, Poverello House serves hundreds of thousands of meals and connects thousands of individuals to essential wraparound services—guided by its mission to enrich the lives and spirits of all who walk through its doors. Learn more at poverellohouse.org.

1Fresno County Department of Public Health, 2025

Lifelong Learning steps up as a nonprofit serving other nonprofits with donations to the Central California Food Bank and Poverello House to help feed families this holiday season

BROOKLINE, Mass. (AP) — Police intensified their search Wednesday for a suspect in the fatal shooting of a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who was killed at his home near Boston earlier in the week.

Nuno F.G. Loureiro, a 47-year-old physicist and fusion scientist, was shot Monday night at his apartment in Brookline, Massachusetts. He died at a local hospital on Tuesday, the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

The prosecutor’s office said the homicide investigation was ongoing and no suspects were in custody as of Wednesday morning.

The investigation into the MIT professor's killing comes as Brown University, another prestigious institution just 50 miles (80 kilometers) away in Providence, Rhode Island, is still reeling from an unsolved shooting that killed two students and wounded nine others Saturday. Investigators provided no indication Tuesday that they were any closer to zeroing in on the gunman's identity.

The FBI on Tuesday said it knew of no connection between the crimes.

Loureiro, who joined MIT in 2016, was named last year to lead MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, where he aimed to advance clean energy technology and other research. The center, one of the school's largest labs, had more than 250 people working across seven buildings when he took the helm.

Loureiro, who was married, grew up in Viseu in central Portugal and studied in Lisbon before earning a doctorate in London, according to MIT. He was a researcher at an institute for nuclear fusion in Lisbon before joining MIT, it said.

“He shone a bright light as a mentor, friend, teacher, colleague and leader, and was universally admired for his articulate, compassionate manner,” Dennis Whyte, an engineering professor who previously led MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, told a campus publication.

The president of MIT, Sally Kornbluth, said in a statement that Loureiro’s death was a “shocking loss.”

A 22-year-old student at Boston University who lives near Loureiro's apartment in Brookline told The Boston Globe she heard three loud noises Monday evening and feared it was gunfire. “I had never heard anything so loud, so I assumed they were gunshots,” Liv Schachner was quoted as saying. “It’s difficult to grasp. It just seems like it keeps happening.”

Some of Loureiro's students visited his home, an apartment in a three-story brick building, Tuesday afternoon to pay their respects, the Globe reported.

The U.S. ambassador to Portugal, John J. Arrigo, expressed his condolences in an online post that honored Loureiro for his leadership and contributions to science.

“It’s not hyperbole to say MIT is where you go to find solutions to humanity’s biggest problems,” Loureiro said when he was named to lead the plasma science lab last year. “Fusion energy will change the course of human history.”

A notice encouraging neighbors of Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro to display candles in their windows to honor his life is taped to an apartment door in Brookline, Mass., Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Leah Willingham)

A crowd of people holding candles gather outside the home of Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro in Brookline, Mass., Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Leah Willingham)

FILE - Students walk past the "Great Dome" atop Building 10 on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus in Cambridge, Mass., April 3, 2017. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

A crowd of people holding candles gather outside the home of Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro in Brookline, Mass., Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Leah Willingham)