Jeff Dinneen: Certified ‘Good Person’

January 26, 2026
• The Needham resident, who founded Cans for Calcium to benefit the Needham Community Council’s food pantry, will accept this year’s Good Person Award from Needham Youth and Family Services.

When he worked for Roche Bros., Jeff Dinneen regularly put in 80 hours a week. Now, in his retirement years, he fills 65 hours with another venture — one that still requires him to visit a grocery store in the wee morning hours.

Cans for Calcium collects redeemable beverage containers to earn back the 5-cent deposit, which funds purchases of milk and other grocery items for the Needham Community Council. Run out of the Recycling and Transfer Station’s shed, as well as Dinneen’s home on Great Plain Avenue, the effort has raised more than $200,000, the equivalent of more than 4 million cans.

For his impact on Needham families, 412 of whom now rely on the NCC’s food pantry, Dinneen will receive the Patrick and Patricia Forde Good Person Memorial Award this year. He said he was “shocked” to hear he would be honored.

“This is going to be an awesome opportunity to get the program more [exposure], get the people more educated,” he said of the award.

The ceremony, originally scheduled for Monday night, has been postponed due to the weather.

The award remembers the Fordes’s impact on the community while also recognizing a resident “who’s done the same to really bring light to some of the good things that are happening in Needham,” Needham Youth and Family Services Director Sara Shine said. Dinneen is the 20th honoree.

Dinneen also recruits volunteers, including high school students and people from the Charles River Center, making him “a community ambassador” for the NCC, Shine said.

“He’s very humble. He’s really the mastermind behind this, but can’t do it alone,” Shine said. “I think it was the extent of his impact that was one of the reasons that he won this year.”

The effort began about 12 years ago, while Dinneen still worked for Roche Bros. At the time, he printed gift certificates to the grocery store for families in need, funding their food himself. He partnered with the NCC several years ago, and donated a commercial-grade freezer and refrigerator to the council out of his own pocket.

Sandy Robinson, executive director of the council, called Dinneen “an extraordinary man.”

“Many food pantries don’t give out things like milk because it’s so expensive, and you have to be able to keep it cold, so you have to have the right refrigeration and all the other things as well,” Robinson said. “So, just getting it delivered is really quite remarkable.”

The proceeds go toward whole and 2% milk, as well as fresh produce, eggs, sugar, ketchup and other various needs of the council. In an average week, Dinneen said he’ll earn about $800 through can collection, making stops at the council three to four times in that seven-day span. Luckily, he has his own key into the pantry now.

In the last few months, Dinneen and the NCC have seen a sharp rise in food pantry use, coinciding with federal cuts to SNAP and mounting food insecurity. Recently, Dinneen brought in 22 milk cartons worth of food, all of which was gone in the week.

The council reports that food pantry visits typically rise 14% every year. They currently service more than 940 residents.

Maisie Berger, a Needham High School junior and longtime volunteer with Cans for Calcium, said the community prides itself on showing up for one another, and Dinneen “shows up for everyone.”

“I think he’s one of the best people that I’ve ever met, and I think he truly cares about what he does,” Berger said. “He puts 150 bajillion percent into it, into the sorting, into the redemption, into the community outreach, into every single part.”

Berger’s mother Erica Baitler said Dinneen sets a positive example for young people in the community.

“I think for me, there was something really impactful about the idea that you were literally taking nickels and putting them together to create a larger impact,” Baitler said. “The lesson for our kids about the value of money, about the value of hard work, about the value of being a participant in serving the community, it was so tangible that it was small acts and small amounts that could have a really big impact.”

The initiative reached 4 million cans last fall and is on track to collect 5 million cans by the end of this year. Dinneen also works with eight local businesses to collect their cans, he said.

Friday afternoon, Dinneen loaded up milk from his car to the food pantry’s fridges, walking through his morning deliveries. Maureen Callahan, director of development and PR for the council, recalled a visit from an out-of-town woman who marveled at their full stock of milk, stating her own family relied on shelf-stable powdered milk when they used a food pantry.

The comment struck Dinneen, who said “I never want to see shelf-stable milk here.” Dinneen said he continues to find “great satisfaction” in seeing the impact of his work.

“I enjoy the program,” Dinneen said. “You can see how well it’s helping out the community.”