Food For Free Gets to the Core of its Mission Packing Apples

ACTON, Mass. – On Jan. 12, nine Food For Free staff members packed apples into boxes for distribution to food access partners during a service day at the Boston Area Gleaners farm. Earlier this month, Food For Free began receiving weekly installments of produce via a grant from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) through the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Plus Program (LFPA Plus) that was awarded to the Boston Area Gleaners. The money from the grant will be used over the course of 18 months to donate locally grown produce to Food For Free, much of which will be sourced from socially disadvantaged farmers, for the nonprofit to distribute to those in need across the region. This day of service provided an opportunity for Food For Free employees to give back to an organization whose work has been pivotal in their efforts to provide fresh, local produce to the community for more than a decade. As one of the nation’s first food rescue programs, Food For Free now serves more than 150,000 Massachusetts residents who are food insecure and distributes over 7.5 million pounds of nutritious fresh and prepared foods annually. For more information, visit: www.foodforfree.org.