Heat-n-Eats Meals Expand Access to Nutritious Food Across Communities in the Greater Boston Area

Boston, MA – Food For Free, one of the nation’s first food rescue organizations, has announced a new partnership with Mass General Brigham, to supply underserved communities with frozen, nutritious, microwavable meals.

Beginning in January 2021, Mass General Brigham began supporting communities hit hardest by COVID-19 through the MGB Community Care Vans.  The Mass General Brigham Care Community Vans program serve communities throughout Eastern Massachusetts with staff coming from Mass General Brigham affiliates including Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, Mass General Hospital and Salem Hospital. This effort offers free testing, vaccines, personal care items, hot meals, and groceries to people in need. As of summer 2022, the Community Care Van are distributing Food For Free’s Heat-n-Eats Meals during stops in Mattapan, Dorchester, Hyde Park, Roxbury, Mission Hill, Roslindale, and Jamaica Plain.

Area residents can access the Community Care Van with Food For Free’s Heat-n-Eats Meals from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. throughout the summer at the following locations:

• July 22: Washington Beach, Beechland Circle, Roslindale
• July 29: Menino YMCA, 1137 River Street, Hyde Park
• August 5: Church of the Holy Spirit, 525 River Street, Mattapan
• August 12: GW Carver Lodge, 80 Talbot Avenue, Dorchester
• August 19: Teen Center, 70 Ames Street, Dorchester
• August 26: Community Physicians, 1337 Hyde Park Avenue, Hyde Park

Launched in 2016, Heat-n-Eats repurposes prepared foods into single-serving meals for people struggling with food insecurity. Created from prepared food rescued from local university, corporate, and hospital food service operations, each heat-and-eat meal is a balanced, tasty individual meal for one. Every meal includes a serving of vegetables, protein, and grain or starch.

“The Community Care Vans have quickly become the largest recipient of our tasty and balanced frozen meals, distributing 150 meals a week across Greater Boston area communities.” says Sam McDermott, Program Manager of Heat-n-Eats, “Our new partnership is an excellent example of how Food For Free can efficiently distribute meals through agencies who have already established a programmatic presence in underserved communities across Greater Boston.”

“This is a unique program because it reduces waste as well as gives food to people who need it,” says Tracy Sylven, Director of Community Health and Wellness at Brigham Women’s Faulkner Hospital, CHHC, MCHES. “For our team, it’s greatly added to our options for our community members. Now people can come to one of our Community Care Van stops and get a hot meal to eat right away, a bag of groceries with fresh produce to cook later, and these frozen meals to put away.”

In addition to the Community Care Van, Food For Free distributes frozen meals to many local schools including Brighton High School, Bunker Hill Community College, Winter Hill Community Innovation School, and Gardner Pilot Academy. To support these efforts, donations to Food For Free can be made at www.foodforfree.org/donate. If you want to learn more about how to bring Heat-n-Eats to your school, organization, or community program, we encourage you to get in touch: heatneats@foodforfree.org.

ABOUT FOOD FOR FREE

Food For Free is a Cambridge and Somerville-based, non-profit organization dedicated to providing Eastern Massachusetts with reliable access to fresh and nutritious food. Food For Free accomplishes its mission through food rescue, partnerships with schools, colleges, and community food programs, and our own direct service programs. In the last year, Food For Free distributed 8 million pounds of nutritious food to over 20 different communities throughout Greater Boston and was named 2020.Org Impact Award winner in the Fighting Hunger and Poverty category for its work improving access to healthy food within the Boston community. To learn more, please visit us at http://www.foodforfree.org/, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @foodforfreeorg.

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