Food for Free Committee

Food rescue: Food rescue program works with grocery stores, farms, universities and other businesses to collect fresh and prepared Food that might otherwise be discarded. Rescued Food is supplemented with wholesale purchased Food and Food donated by the greater boston bood bank. Approximately 7.3m pounds of Food was distributed in fy22; serving more than 50,000 individuals in partnership with over 90 regional Food programs.

Home delivery: home delivery serves low-income cambridge seniors and people with disabilities, bringing boxes of groceries right to their doorsteps twice a month. The program reaches about 400 clients each month.

Cambridge and somerville weekend backpack program: sends cambridge and somerville school children at risk of hunger home with healthy, kid-friendly meals every weekend or reloadable, debit cards each month. In the fall of 2022, Food for Free pivoted entirely to distributing the "carrot card" in place of physical Food, allowing families and students independence and autonomy in their dietary choices, including culturally-appropriate Food items. Carrot cards are distributed to over 900 food-insecure families across cambridge and somerville.

The transportation partnership: this program is a collaboration with the greater boston Food bank for Food pantries and meals programs that do not have their own transportation. Participating Food programs use the gbfb website to place their orders and Food for Free drivers deliver them according to a schedule.

Heat n eats: heat n eats repurposes prepared foods into single-serving meals for people with limited access to kitchens. Every meal includes a serving of vegetables, protein, and grain or starch. The new heat n eats preparation kitchen is located on the biogen campus in kendall square in cambridge.

Just eats program: just eats distributes bulk grocery boxes of assorted produce and dry goods to a wide variety of schools, housing sites, and community service agencies in the greater boston area. Volunteer groups and a partner organization pack over 3,000 boxes each week that Food for Free then distributes to partners.

School and summer markets: this program utilizes just eats boxes to facilitate grab and go style markets at 12 public schools across cambridge and somerville. In the summer, Food for Free partners with local housing sites to facilitate weekly market events.