Meet Alanna Mallon, Food For Free’s new Program Director!

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Alanna may be best known around these parts as the founder of the Cambridge Weekend Backpack Program (recently adopted by Food For Free!)

However, Alanna has many skills: prior to coming to work for Food For Free, she was the Education Liaison in the Office of the Mayor at Cambridge City Hall, and before that, she worked as a children’s clothing designer.

On what inspired her to create the Cambridge Weekend Backpack Program:

“I was coming home one day, and heard a story on NPR about children who may not have had enough to eat over the weekends, and how Mondays were really hard for them…and winter break was a long time for them to be away from the school cafeteria, which was where they got most of their nutrition.

This story came on right after Christmas, and I felt like, “Gosh, I just spent all that time eating with my family, going to this party or that party”—and I still felt a little full.

The thought that these kids had just spent the 12 days over break hungry was really upsetting. And both of my children were in the public schools, and I thought, “What if some of their friends had just spent 12 days with not a lot to eat?”

A day in the life of a Program Director:

Follow Alanna in this short video as she fills weekend backpacks and visits the Graham & Parks Food Market: