Programs
It may not be summer yet, according to the calendar, but it sure feels like it. Field of Greens is up and running, having hosted our first volunteer shifts of the season a couple of weeks ago. (Shoutout to Pegasystems for volunteering as our first group of the season! They were awesome!)

In recent weeks, Ryan and our Food Rescue drivers have been hard at work rescuing leftover food from college graduation events. Harvard, Boston University, and Tufts combined to donate over 2500 meals!

Meanwhile, Food Rescue has started bringing fruit to Cambridge Youth Boxing —a collaboration with the Cambridge Police Department.

Fiona is busy getting our Summer Markets planned. We’ll be working with Homeowners Rehab Inc. (HRI) to bring markets to Inman Square Apartments and Trolley Square Apartments on Wednesdays, and Columbia Terrace Apartments and Putnam Green Apartments, on Thursdays. And, of course, we’ll be bringing Market in the Park back to Danehy Park. All of these markets will start in July.

Presentations and Events

• Sasha will be speaking on a panel at the U.S. Food Waste Summit on Tuesday June 26. The Summit is hosted by Harvard Law School’s Food Law and Policy Clinic and ReFED.
• On May 17, teams representing Food For Free and other local nonprofits participated in the Kendall Square Challenge. Our thanks to the teams from Jones Lang Lasalle, Marriott, CIC, Leggatt McCall, and Clark Lau for championing us!
• On May 16, Sarah represented Food For Free at the Green Vendor Fair at the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center
• On May 11, Sasha and Fiona attended Voices of Hunger at Worcester State University. The summit brought together WSU staff and faculty with non-profits from across Massachusetts to talk about our work and to identify opportunities for collaboration in addressing food insecurity on college campuses.

Funding
It’s been a great spring for grants! Food For Free has received several meaningful grants:

• A grant in support of Food Rescue from Bank of America
• A two-year grant, also in support of Food Rescue, from Liberty Mutual
• A grand from the Avison Fund, supporting the Cambridge Weekend Backpack Program
• A grant from the Anne E. Borghesani Community Foundation supporting School Markets

Board of Directors
Food For Free has recently welcomed three new members to our Board of Directors:

• Marc Becker is Chief Financial Officer of Concert Pharmaceuticals.
• Alison Gray joins us from Cambridge Savings Bank where she is AVP, Sr. HR Business Partner.
• Stephen Pratt is President of Impact Catalysts, a partner to social enterprises and philanthropies.

Staff
Michelle is super excited about her two new teammates in the Development office. First, in April, Chelsea Strelser joined us as Event Coordinator. Chelsea is recruiting riders for our Ride for Food team and will soon be seeking donations for the Party Under the Harvest Moon auction. Chelsea is from Virginia and has a background in human rights and youth activism. She enjoys reading, cooking, crafting, and posting too many pictures of her two cats.

Christine Savage has replaced John Haak as Development Assistant. Before joining Food For Free, Christine was with the MIT Press. In her free time, she is participating in a months-long personal deep dive through the entire Emmylou Harris songbook.

We have two new interns this summer: Will MacArthur, an undergrad at Harvard, and Stephanie McCulloch, a Tisch Fellow from Friedman School of Nutrition and Policy at Tufts.

Thanks for reading!