When the USDA Farmers to Families Food Box Program ended amidst the pandemic and families felt the impact across Greater Boston, Food For Free’s Just Eats box program began and filled a critical gap. 

Just Eats has enabled Food For Free to begin partnering with new organizations and expanded our reach further than ever before, like with Marblehead Community Charter Public School (MCCPS). We recently learned more about the impact these fresh food boxes have made in the lives of the families in the five north shore towns served by Marblehead Community Charter School.

This may not be the Oregon Trail, but making the critical journey every Wednesday from Somerville to Marblehead in a custom-crafted Conestoga Wagon is just as critical! Many students and their families across the north shore rely on Food For Free’s Just Eats boxes with the help of MCCPS and their team. 

“Bob’s great, and he’s been dedicated to this school for many years. He built that wagon himself – God, love him – he built that to bring fun to something as important as bringing food.” Danette Russo explains. 

Danette is the Director of Food Services at MCCPS. When not leading an eighteenth-century-style trailer full of produce, Bob Erbetta runs the facilities.

Together, this weekly process brings fresh, healthy, delicious food to over 40 families with students in grades 4-8 who are experiencing food insecurity.

“Students attend Marblehead Charter from several different towns in addition to Marblehead, like Lynn, Salem, Nahant, Beverly, and Peabody,” Danette describes, “This partnership brings a critical food source to families across the north shore.”

She may be the Director of Food Services at the MCCPS, but Danette uses this process to connect others in the community to food, as well: “We’ll also hand-deliver Just Eats boxes to the Council of Aging because there are seniors who need it, and the Rotary Club.”

“More than just families are hungry and I use my resources to ensure people in our community get the access they need.”

So, how did it all begin?

Danette and Hope, the other food services employee at the school, cook from scratch every day for over 230 students and know firsthand the importance of good, healthy, fresh food for growing brains. Since taking over the department, Danette has been exploring ways to help the local community, expand her vision of fresh food for all, and incorporate this theme into the school’s work with students.

 Then COVID-19 changed everything…

 “During the pandemic, I was bringing the USDA Farmers to Families boxes to every house myself to ensure our students were still getting the food they needed.” Danette pauses and continues, “Suddenly, that changed overnight, and Massachusetts logistically didn’t work out anymore for these deliveries.”

The school remained shut down and Danette felt a personal responsibility to keep feeding her community. It was devastating knowing how important this food source was to the families she saw every week and the team began to scramble to find a solution. 

That’s when she came across Food For Free. Danette began volunteering in Just Eats and shares, “The Just Eats boxes were a sign of good during a very dark time. I reached out immediately, got involved, and you guys stepped up when no one else would.” 

Danette fought isolation and food insecurity and began delivering Just Eats grocery boxes to the homes of 40-50 students and their families. “I wanted to help the community. With the pandemic and partnering with Food For Free to get these boxes, it was a challenge but it just showed how we’re really all in this together and we can make a difference.”

School is back in session, and Danette still delivers Just Eats boxes to around 20 households in need, but the rest of the families will get them at the beginning of the day or dismissal. 

Just Eats Pick-up: The Rotary Club, The Council on Aging, and different local families pick up Just Eats boxes every week from Danette and MCCPS. Photos shared with Food For Free by Danette of MCCPS.

“We’ve been able to maintain relationships where I can check in and see how they’re doing.” Danette shares, “And these connections – with Food For Free, with our families, with this whole process – have inspired me to ask the question – well, what can we do now?”

And that’s when Danette had the idea of building a school food pantry. 

“We have a couple of months to go before we’re up and running,” she says, “ …but the need is there, and we are doing something about it. Families who get the Just Eats boxes are already reaching out to me and expressing gratitude, so I know we’re doing something right.”

A mother of a student at MCCPS emailed Danette recently when she learned about the upcoming school food pantry:

“Chef Russo – just want to say how continually impressed I am with the ways you go above and beyond to help families at the school and to bring your very best self to your work. You are such an incredible role model in leadership to the students in this way. What an incredible gift you have given these families with this community resource. 

As a parent at the school, I wanted to send this word of recognition – we can see your impact so clearly and wanted to ensure you knew what an amazing impact it is – both short and long term.”

Danette has tears in her eyes and explains, “You know, just to know that I can give them something, the basic staples in those Just Eats boxes can make so many meals and get people through. Just to know these families can make a hot meal for their children at night, or just know that someone has their back, that someone is there for them – that has been the most amazing thing. I can’t say it enough, we’re all in this together and everyone has the ability to reach out and do what I am doing. We need each other, and we need to keep taking action so people in need know they are not alone.” ❂