Arlington Eats

Food pantry / market operation: distributed nutritious and culturally appropriate food to Arlington, ma residents in need. Due to the covid pandemic, pantry visits were limited from july to october, 2021 but provided 4,716 in-person shopping visits during the year. A new home delivery service provided 6,953 home deliveries to about 120 families. The vacation, summer, & school lunch programs which normally provide lunches were on hold until april, 2022 when, with the assistance of the greater boston food bank, grocery gift cards with a value of 6,280 were given to 76 families. The debt relief program was also placed on hold for this same reason. The drake village program provided 168 deliveries to low-income seniors before this specific program was merged with the new home delivery program. Snack program: a-eats provided 27,089 snacks to Arlington students during the 2020-2021 school year. The emergency food closets were also re-opened at three locations during the year. Grant program - due to the increased need within the community and with other organizations able to serve certain Arlington and other area residents more efficiently, the organization provided 74,808 of funds for the purpose of food security. Farmer's market voucher program: in june, 2021, a-eats started a new program providing vouchers for use at the Arlington farmer's market to purchase from local farmers. A-eats market guests, known to serve 424 unduplicated families, were given 7,435 vouchers leading to the purchase of 37,175 of food from the Arlington farmer's market.