Welcome to the school year! We all know it’s going to be a weird one. With an eye toward supporting our public- and charter-school families as well as we can during what may be an extremely challenging year, we are tweaking our school-based programs to keep them as reliable as possible for the families who count on them.

This fall, Food For Free’s Weekend Eats (formerly the Cambridge and Somerville Weekend Backpack Program) will work with school liaisons to find students needing food support over the weekends at the Community Charter School of Cambridge, Benjamin Banneker Charter Public School, YMCA Somerville, Y@PHA, and Prospect Hill Academy. As in years past, Food For Free will purchase and pack bags of delicious, healthy, kid-friendly food for delivery to the schools on Friday mornings. We expect to enroll around 200+ kids.

We are also focusing this fall on ways to revamp the food selection to be more nutritious and culturally relevant, based on feedback we got about the food we offered over the summer. The items in the bags may change this year as we work to understand what best will serve the diverse group of kids and families this program helps.

Meanwhile, for the public schools we serve (all of Cambridge and Somerville’s public elementary and middle schools) we are introducing the Weekend Eats Carrot Card Program. 

This program will provide families with $25 per kid loaded onto their “carrot card” monthly. We will work with school liaisons to find families that need help purchasing food for their children over the weekend, and encourage families to use cards for food for their children. We expect to serve around 1,850 kids through the cash assistance program alone, with numbers potentially growing as families continue to be enrolled throughout the year. 

This program will allow families the flexibility of choice, location, and timing when it comes to feeding their children. Because of the pandemic and the instability of in person/remote learning, giving food to kids at school hasn’t always been the most consistent way to make sure they are fed over the weekend. This monthly card is a way to ensure that children will be fed no matter what changes may occur on the school-level.

The Carrot Card program is influenced by the excellent work–and impact–coming out of the Chelsea Eats program and other similar programs throughout the country.

We also will be serving Cambridge Public Schools with our School Markets program! Details are still in the works, but we hope to hold markets at several schools spread across Cambridge, and to involve as many Cambridge Public Schools students and families as possible. Our four Somerville Public Schools sites will be decided soon as well, with the program starting in October. 

This year, School Markets will distribute Just Eats boxes, which will make it easy for parents to grab a box and go, and make it easier for schools to hold safe, physically distanced markets outside. 

We love School Markets because they meet students and families where they are at— during parent pickup. Families won’t need to make an extra stop to pick up some grocery essentials to cook dinner that night; a healthy meal can be made with much of the fresh produce, protein, and grain found in a Just Eats box!