At Food For Free, we have always believed that the best work is never accomplished alone. Our partnerships with community organizations, volunteers, and donors have always been critical in our goal to make healthy food more accessible to all. This year especially, the COVID crisis made working together as a community essential and really highlighted how important feeling connected to your community is.
Neighbors joining with neighbors is a powerful way to help feed those in need and bring people together for some much-needed connection. Many of us are struggling with the social isolation and stress that living through a pandemic brings. During these times feeling a connection to your community and being able to help in some way can help can be a great remedy.
Our partnerships with housing developments in Boston and Cambridge are a great example of neighbors coming together to help each other. Our partnerships with Camfield Estates, Mission Main, and Walden Square Apartments have helped us to increase our reach to more food insecure individuals and families. The staff and volunteers at these sites have been working hard to distribute the fresh produce and other provisions we have brought to them to their neighbors who currently lack access to sufficient, nutritious food.
Camfield Estates in Boston’s South End is a community of 102 residences subsidized by the Housing and Urban Development Division. In recent months, the staff at Camfield Estates had been distributing food to 35 residents in need with food provided by the Brookline Food Coop but they found the need was even greater. We were able to help out by bringing them additional produce boxes, which they report has helped them open distribution to the broader community and triple the number of families they serve. Jerel Walden, Program Manager at Camfield Estates tells us that the community benefited from more than just the food supplied; “While the food is vitally important, the most striking thing is the possibility of extending the sense of community at a time when that seems to be dissipating as people make arrangements for neighbors unable to come. Thank you for this incredible service and opportunity to serve the community.” This power of bringing neighbors together and generating community especially during these difficult times is invaluable.
Mission Main in Roxbury is another great example of community coming together in these times. Since late April, we have delivered thousands of pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables, along with dry and canned items to Mission Main. But what happens after the food is delivered is the real magic. Mission Main office and maintenance staff come together with volunteers from the City of Boston to cheerfully bag and deliver groceries to residents in need. This teamwork is inspiring and is an impressive agent for change.
Back in Cambridge, Food For Free has been working together with the Cambridge Housing Authority and Walden Square Apartments to operate our Summer Markets. This year our Summer Markets program has grown 800% from last year. Last summer, we ran one market per week. This year, we are now running up to nine markets a week at different housing sites across Cambridge. Summer markets require a lot of coordination and teamwork and it would be very challenging for our team to manage this growth without the help of our community. For example, at Walden Square Apartments, our staff and volunteers work side by side with the Walden Square staff who have come together to support their residents and neighbors. While our staff and volunteers unpack food from our van, Walden Square staff and resident volunteers set up tables, check people in, and offer hand sanitizer while helping to create a vibe that makes this market such a happy place to be.
None of us know when life will begin to return to normal post pandemic. Our team is continuing to step up to the challenge of evolving our programs to address the growing gaps in the emergency food network. It’s not easy and it’s often downright challenging. However, when we see how our partners, our volunteers, and our donors are stepping up to join us, we know that no matter how long this takes we’re all going to do it together just like good neighbors do.
