Food Rescue in Review: 2022 Wrap-up
Can you believe that another year is coming to a close? 2022 was a big year for Food Link – we rescued 1.2 million pounds of food from going to waste, served over 50 communities throughout Greater Boston, celebrated our tenth anniversary, appeared on the evening news, rolled out our new mission and vision statements, and so much more.
To our volunteers, donors, and friends of Food Link: thank you for your support throughout this year. Read on to relive some of our most memorable moments of 2022.
Food Rescue
As the year wraps up, Food Link staff and volunteers are still rescuing and distributing food. This year, we rescued 1.2 million lbs. of food, moving over 3,000 lbs. of food in and out of the Hub daily. Of course, some days are more memorable than others. Our staff reflected on a few of the more notable food rescues this year.
In January, we rescued 43,000 eggs from the New Hampshire Food Bank! We repackaged the eggs into cartons and distributed them to our partner agencies throughout Greater Boston.
There is never a dull moment in food rescue. In May, the refrigeration system in our truck broke after we had loaded five pallets (8,000 cups!) of yogurt into it. Our staff and volunteers quickly came together that evening to move the yogurt all over again into our indoor fridge. None of the rescued food went to waste.
This summer, the theme of bulk food rescue continued with corn! Thanks to the Boston Area Gleaners, we rescued 100 bags of fresh corn.
There were many more rescues both large and small, but this list would not be complete without mentioning the 1,600 lbs. of SPAM we received from Costco. This rescue involved three rounds of volunteers, a lot of lifting, and a photo shoot in the back of a pickup truck.
Picture 1: Janice, a volunteer, loads eggs into our walk-in fridge. Picture 2: board member Judi stands with 8,000 cups of yogurt in our truck. Picture 3: staff members Rose and Bridget M. pose with fresh corn. Picture 4: staff members Bridget M. and Emma sit in a truck full of SPAM
Volunteers
Our volunteers dedicated 19,000 hours to supporting Food Link’s mission. We opened our doors (and fridge and freezer!) to 43 volunteer groups, including corporate service teams, school groups, local religious organizations, scout troops, and civic organizations.
Volunteering isn’t all work and no play. In fact, we encourage play! Our Volunteer Coordinator, Rose, organized our first-ever Food Link Volunteer Olympics. Around 40 of us spent a warm summer evening together stacking banana boxes, racing to sort food, and tossing compost into buckets. Team Blueberry won this year’s championship. We can’t wait to see who takes the crown next year.
Picture 1: Team Blueberry smiles with medals at the inaugural Food Link Volunteer Olympics. Picture 2: Food Link’s Ride for Food Team sit on their bikes at the start line.
In the spirit of physical activity, Food Link also participated in Three Squares New England’s Ride For Food. Our team members joined virtually or completed the 5K walk or a 25-50 mile bike ride. Together, our team raised over $20,000 to support food rescue.
Our devoted volunteers are the backbone of our food rescue operation. Whether you volunteered with us just once this year or multiple times each week, we are sincerely grateful for your contribution of time and effort.
Food Link staff stand together, smiling, in the Food Link Operations space.
Administration
Food Link received significant funding from multiple sources this year. We are deeply grateful to the Cummings Foundation, the Audax Charitable Foundation, and the Arlington and Malden ARPA committees for supporting our mission. Individual donors, grantmakers, family foundations, and corporate sponsors are all vital to Food Link’s success.
Some of this funding enabled us to evolve our staffing structure. Four of our staff received promotions and accompanying title changes. Congratulations to Alex, Elise, Emma, and Rose on their exciting new roles!
In addition to these internal changes, Food Link hired two new positions – Operations Associate and Interim Director of Finance and Administration – to support us in fulfilling our new strategic plan. Food Link is thrilled to welcome Bridget M. and Delita to our team.
Want to learn more about the people behind Food Link? Visit our About Us page to read about our staff, board, and founders.
With 2022 almost over, we’re looking ahead to 2023. Food Link’s updated mission reflects our role in the food security system and our commitment to infusing food justice into all aspects of our work.
We look forward to another year of rescuing food to alleviate hunger in Greater Boston and we invite you to join us on this journey. You can check out opportunities to get involved, learn more about our program, follow us on social media, and sign up for our newsletter.
All of us at Food Link wish you happy holidays and a wonderful new year!