What We’re Up To: Spring 2018 Edition

A man stands next to a table of produce with a sign that says "Food For Free."



Spring hasn’t quite sprung around here yet. And, the snow has been making life pretty interesting for Fiona, Ryan, and their teams. In between shoveling out the trucks and rescheduling food deliveries and school markets due to snow days, the Food For Free staff is still finding time to expand programs, hire new staff, and get out into the community. A few updates:

Programs
Family Meals has started bringing meals to:

  • Middlesex Human Service Agency, a 40-year old, Waltham-based non-profit that “provides intensive, emergency support to those affected by homelessness, substance abuse and hunger.”
  • Massachusetts Bay Community College, where more than half of students have low or very-low food security. We are delivering to the Wellesley Hills Campus.


Food Rescue has recently begun collecting prepared food from the dining halls at


Thanks to support from First Church in Cambridge, we are adding refrigeration to the smallest of our trucks, bringing us (finally!) to an all-refrigerated fleet!

Staff
Anna Pierce-Slive has joined us as Farm Manager at Field of Greens.

We’re currently hiring for two positions in our Development office: a part-time Development Assistant and a part-time Event Coordinator.

Recent Presentations

  • Fiona Crimmins participated in Boston Area Sustainability Group’s “Invite to Ignite 2018” event
  • Fiona also spoke about volunteer opportunities at Food For Free at Cambridge Savings Bank’s “Lunch & Learn” program for bank employees
  • Ryan Lee participated in a roundtable called “Our Food System and Climate Change”, at Lesley University
  • Ryan also spoke to the Practicing in Food Systems class at Tufts University, on Feb. 22. The students, along with their professor Cathy Stanton, are taking a close look at the food system in Somerville, with a particular focus on food access for low-income people. The class learned about the role Food For Free plays as a source of food for the community, and how our work fits in the broader context of the Somerville Food System.
  • Michelle Holcomb presented to congregants at First Church in Cambridge’s Grantee Sharing Session

Funding
We’re pleased to announce a grant from the Biogen Foundation in support of the Cambridge Weekend Backpack Program. We are enormously grateful to Chris Barr and everyone at the Biogen Foundation for their generous and critical support of this program.

Instagram!
Cross-Program Coordinator Ashia Aubourg is dragging the Gen Xers of 11 Inman Street into the 21st century. Food For Free is now on Instagram!

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