Labor Day is behind us, and so, we hope, is the sticky, sweaty, heat of the summer. Here at Food For Free, we’re looking forward to a long run of crisp, sunny September days and cool, breezy fall nights. Autumn is our favorite season. Sit down and count the reasons! (With apologies to the Brooklyn Funk Essentials)
Publications
We’ve released our FY2018 Annual Report and Audited Financials. You can find both here.
Lots of new program staff!
Ellenor Barish has joined us as Program Coordinator for the Somerville Weekend Backpack Program. Ellenor is a Registered Dietitian and has worked on various nutrition- and hunger- related projects in Somerville since she moved there in 2004. In her spare time, Ellenor enjoys taking advantage of Somerville’s varied running terrain and fabulous restaurant options. Her goals include becoming a better gardener and through-hiking the Appalachian Trail.
Allison (Ali) Eddy is the new Program Manager for the Cambridge Weekend Backpack Program and the School Markets. Ali spent the summer farming and facilitating food justice education with The Food Project. She graduated from Earlham College in 2017 with a Bachelors in Peace and Global Studies. Ali is passionate about food and social justice, and food sovereignty movements. Outside of work Ali loves to cook, bake, eat wonderful things (especially ice cream), swim, and generally spend time outdoors with her best friend and puppy, Frankie.
Kyle Ahlers is the new Program Coordinator for the Family Meals Program. Kyle thrives at the intersection of people, policy, and social justice and is super excited to be with the Food for Free team. When she’s not working you can find her at climate-related meetings, doing jigsaw puzzles, watching documentaries, or battling woodchucks in the garden.
A New Home for Family Meals
The Family Meals program has moved! Our previous home at Christ Church in Harvard Square is currently undergoing renovations, and Fiona spent several months looking for a new place to call home. We’re excited to be all moved in and ready to make Family Meals in our new space at the Belmont-Watertown United Methodist Church in Watertown Square. We’re grateful to our generous hosts and happy to have even more space and time in our new kitchen. We’d love to have new volunteers join us in our new space! Sign up to volunteer here: http://www.foodforfree.org/volunteer
A New Program
We’ve adopted the Somerville Backpack Program!
New School Markets
Starting in the new school year, we’ll be helping Cambridge Public Schools to set up School Markets at three new-to-the-program schools: Benjamin Banneker Charter Public School, John M. Tobin Montessori School, and Community Charter School of Cambridge. These markets will get started in late September or early October (depending on the school) and will run once a month, serving students, parents, and other members of the school community. Read more about school markets in this great piece by our former intern Stuart Mapes.
And We’re Hiring Again (Still?)
We have new positions posted for a Business Manager and a Marketing Manager. And, we’re still on the lookout for another great Food Rescue Coordinator to join our Operations team.
A Convening of Backpack Programs
Summer wasn’t all bad.
In July, Food For Free teamed up with Project Bread and Harvard University to convene over 30 backpack programs from New England to share best practices, challenges and ways to stay connected to one another to create a coalition. In attendance were well established backpack programs, fledgling programs just starting up, alongside officials from the Mayor’s Office in Boston. Also present were academics from Harvard University doing research on ways to increase academic success. There was a panel discussion, breakout groups, and time for networking.
Alanna Mallon, our K-12 strategic lead and founder of the Cambridge Weekend Backpack Program, led a panel discussion on funding. Describing early fundraising efforts she said, “When fundraising, I can’t stress enough how important it is to involve your entire community in your efforts. It’s not your program, it’s theirs. In order to do that, you have to tell a compelling story through social media and local press. Once the community feels ownership, the funding piece will be easier.”
Of the event as a whole Alanna said, “It was incredibly powerful to bring together representatives of Weekend Backpack Programs from all over New England. The information, challenges and best practices we shared were invaluable and being better connected in the future was a shared goal for all programs. We may run our programs slightly differently, but in the end our mission is the same: making sure kids have enough to eat over the weekend.”
