6 Years!

On March 19th, 2016 Rev. Jennie Barrett Siegal posted to her Facebook page, “Today was the grand opening of the Pop-Up Food Pantry at OSU. It was amazing!”

It was. We hoped it would help us increase food access for neighbors who, despite working a 40-hour work week, were struggling to make ends meet. Our other distributions were on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We could never have imagined what this new friendship would become.

We served 32 families that first day at Old South Union Church and distributed 34,298 lbs that first year. In 2018 we changed the Pop-Up Pantry from a bi-weekly event to weekly and in so doing had 3,449 visits from neighbors who needed a little help.

Since, then, we have created a flagship Food Pantry Garden, hosted by Old South Union Church, and sponsored by South Shore Bank.

Thousands of pounds of fresh produce is harvested from this beautiful garden. Volunteers show up Saturday mornings all spring, summer, and fall to plant, weed, and harvest. Fresh vegetables are home bound with neighbors within hours of picking. The garden is also ‘open access’ and because anybody can stop in anytime, it is the ultimate expression in food equity.

Food is essential to our health and well being, but it is also an expression of connectedness, and the parish at Old South Church created a welcoming experience with their hot breakfast service up until COVID-19 protocols changed the landscape. Egg muffins with bacon or broccoli, hot coffee and tea, bagels or pastries were on offer every Saturday morning to neighbors. When our Pop-Up Pantry switched to drive through, breakfasts ‘to-go’ were on the menu, and together we created a series of ‘how to’ cooking videos we affectionally titled ‘Our Living Pantry’ on creating healthy meals from pantry staples.

There are five types of community:

  • Interest - people who gather around a common interest or goal

  • Action - people gather to work alongside each other to make an impact

  • Place - a geographic location

  • Practice - people who gather to take part in the same activity

  • Circumstance - people brought together by situation

Our friendship with Old South Union Church isn’t just one definition of community, it’s all five. Six years together and our work has blossomed into a rich, textured, multifaceted effort with people and food at the heart, and looking ahead? Well, anything is possible.

Six years in numbers:

Total lbs distributed - 847,348 lbs

Total number of visits: 20,097

Over 7,000 people impacted, both volunteers and visitors

Town of Weymouth, Weymouth Food Pantry to launch first Food Pantry Bus!

Weymouth, MA – Mayor Hedlund and the Weymouth Food Pantry (WFP) announced today a collaborative project to launch the first pantry bus in Massachusetts, a next-level expansion of the mobile pantry model. The Town of Weymouth, in partnership with WFP, will outfit a former school bus to operate as a transportable walk-in pantry. The new bus will provide nearly limitless capacity to reach households in need, regardless of distance or isolation. Mayor Hedlund has committed American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for implementation of the project.

“The Weymouth Food Pantry is the gold standard for providing food assistance. With the need for food access on the rise due to COVID, this mobile pantry project will help us reach even more Weymouth residents and families,” said Mayor Robert Hedlund.

“Food access is an important piece of food security. This bus gives us the opportunity to build out specialized programs that expand how we meet the needs of our community,” said Pam Denholm, Executive Director of Weymouth Food Pantry. “It is a big commitment to ensuring Weymouth is a place where everybody can thrive.”

Town officials anticipate that buildout of the bus will be complete by summer 2022. Amenities will include wall-to-wall shelving, fridge and freezer units, and storage for at least 3,000 pounds of fresh, frozen, and shelf-stable food. Once complete, the bus will be operated and maintained by WFP.  

The pantry bus represents a long-lasting investment in the future of Weymouth. Not only will the bus address transportation as a barrier to food assistance, but its multidimensional uses will better position the town to respond to future needs and emergencies.

“From day one, flexibility in our delivery model has been critical to addressing the staggering need for food assistance produced by COVID-19,” said Nicholas Bulens, Chair of the Weymouth Food Pantry Board of Directors. “This bus is the next level in flexibility. It’s an investment not just in the town’s recovery but in greater food security and in a more resilient Weymouth. We are incredibly grateful to Mayor Hedlund for making this project a reality.”  

According to the Greater Boston Food Bank, Massachusetts saw the greatest percentage increase in food insecurity in the country in 2020, with a 47% increase over 2019. Based on projections from Feeding America, one in 10 individuals in Eastern Massachusetts were also expected to remain food insecure through 2021. The current rise in food costs, as well as the impending end to boosted federal nutrition and economic benefits, are anticipated to impact food insecurity into 2022.