Year Round-Up: Looking Back at 2024
Image Description: A lilac banner with the words “Setting the Table” centered between two graphics of plate settings.
2024 was a bountiful year for Food Link! We hosted our first Fall Community Open House where volunteers, staff, and representatives from our partner agencies met and mingled with one another. In line with our strategic plan to engage in systems-level work, we partnered with new food donors and recipient agencies, participated in local and national food policy coalition meetings, and advocated for the reauthorization of the Farm Bill for its role in reducing food waste and strengthening food and nutrition security for children. Additionally, we welcomed two people to our team and promoted five of our long-time staff!
We are so grateful for our volunteers and partner agencies who made the success of this year possible! In 2024, 962 volunteers helped us distribute over $3 million worth of food to community organizations throughout Greater Boston. Now, sit back and relax as we serve four different courses of Food Link stories from this past year.
Image Description: A dark blue banner with the words “A Winter Feast” set in the center. On the left is an image of a snowman holding a potato and cucumber. On the right are two images of meat platters, roast beef and turkey respectively.
The year began with the heartiness of a feast!
❄️ In food rescue, we collected 810 lbs. of lettuce from the Dorchester Food Co-Op and 1,800 lbs. of frozen dumplings from Dumpling Daughters. We sent special goodies with our Valentine’s Day deliveries and, in March, we picked up 67 boxes of fresh vegetables from the New England Produce Center in Chelsea in a single day. These boxes boasted an abundance of cucumbers, squash, wax beans, onions, and potatoes that we delivered to our recipient agencies.
❄️ On the volunteer side of our operations, we finalized our new volunteer handbook, which helps prepare our volunteers for their Food Link shifts. Additionally, we continued our work on our volunteer portal FLIP, which launched in 2023.
❄️ In administration, we developed an internal Food Justice Platform to guide our decision-making and work practices. We received a $7,500 grant from Fallon Health to support sourcing and distributing culturally-relevant foods. We also partnered with the Robbins Library in March to run a display table in their lobby.
❄️ Beyond Food Link, we shared the Zero Food Waste Coalition’s open letter to Congress to reauthorize the Farm Bill and re-engaged with other food policy forums such as the Boston Food Access Council and the Massachusetts Food System Collaborative.
Image Description: A collage of four photos surrounded by dark blue borders. In the center of the collage inside a dark blue circle are the words “Winter at Food Link” above a graphic of a snowman holding a potato and cucumber. (From left to right, top to bottom): a photo of Valentine’s Day goodie bags, a photo of Food Link’s table display at the Robbins Library, a photo of boxes from the New England Produce Center, a photo of Executive Director Rachel and Senior Communications and Outreach Coordinator Shannon standing with representatives from Fallon Health.
Image Description: A vanilla yellow banner with the words “A Spring Banquet” in the center. On the left is an image of a cherry blossom tree with bananas and lemons hanging from its limbs. On the right are two images of bread appetizers, one vegetable and one shrimp.
Spring pleased us with many delights!
🌸 In food rescue, the distribution facility Paul Marks kept us well-hydrated! They donated 7,500 lbs. of water and 6,000 lbs. of Spindrift seltzers, all very appropriate for the warm season. Additionally, in April, we received over 100 chocolate bars from Curio Spice Co. and 20 boxes of bananas from the New England Produce Center. The Farmers Market season started again and we collected much fresh produce from the Belmont, Arlington, and Lexington markets.
🌸 For Volunteer Appreciation Week in April, we thanked our volunteers with a special appreciation wall and an assortment of Food Link goodies. In May, we had NINE groups volunteer with us! This included the Cambridge School of Weston, Liberty Mutual, Temple Shir Tikvah, Winchester Girl Scouts, Simpson Gumpertz & Heger (SGH), Audax, Goldman Sachs, International School of Boston, and McCall Middle School.
🌸 We welcomed two new Food Link team members in April and May respectively, Jo as Operations Assistant and Darcy as Administrative Assistant. Five of our staff also took on exciting new roles! Khadejeh graduated to Operations Associate, Shannon to Senior Communications and Outreach Coordinator, Rose to Senior Volunteer Coordinator, Sam to Senior Coordinator of Data Systems and Development, and Bridget M. to Volunteer Program Associate.
🌸 Outside of Food Link, we celebrated the release of the federal government’s first interagency National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics. In June, two of our staff, Bridget M. and Shannon, attended the annual ReFED conference in Baltimore. The Massachusetts Food System Collaborative led an Advocacy 101 training session with staff to learn how we can better prioritize our advocacy efforts.
Image Description: A collage of four photos surrounded by vanilla yellow borders. In the center of the collage inside a vanilla yellow circle are the words “Spring at Food Link” above a graphic of a cherry blossom tree with bananas and lemons hanging from its limbs. (From left to right, top to bottom): a photo of the volunteer appreciation wall, a photo of Goldman Sachs volunteers, a photo of several boxes of bananas from the New England Produce Center, a photo of four Curio Spice Co. chocolate bars. The frontmost chocolate bar has an image of lemons on its wrapper.
Image Description: A teal blue banner with the words “A Summer Picnic” in the middle. On the left is an image of a sandcastle sitting besides carrots and peppers. On the right are two images, one of a set of muffins and the other of a picnic basket.
Summer greeted us with activity and warmth!
☀️ This summer, we saw a 36% increase in fresh produce donations thanks to our growing season partners at the Lexington Farmers Market, Belmont Farmers Market, Arlington Farmers Market, Boston Public Market, Belmont Day School, Boston Area Gleaners, and Farmer Tim's Vegetables. We also partnered with NEAT to supply food and volunteer support for their annual BBQ in August.
☀️ We hosted our yearly Volunteer Olympics where staff and volunteers competed in rounds of compost tossing, recycling sorting, expiration date relay racing, and Food Link trivia. Our volunteers also represented Food Link at Belmont Town Day and Arlington Town Day.
☀️ For Hunger Action Month in September, we partnered with Arlington EATS and the Robbins Library to host children’s storytimes and a documentary screening of “A Place at the Table.” 129 attendees came to the story-times and 19 participated in our screening.
☀️ Regarding our Food Justice Platform, we received feedback from 19 food security organizations, which helped us further define our advocacy priorities. We also continued work on developing a Program Committee that brings the voices of people with lived experience with food insecurity even more directly into our work.
Image Description: A collage of four photos surrounded by teal blue borders. In the center of the collage inside a teal blue circle are the words “Summer at Food Link” above a graphic of a sandcastle sitting besides carrots and peppers. (From left to right, top to bottom): a photo of Board Chair Nora, Executive Director Rachel, and two volunteers posing with Congresswoman Katherine Clark at Arlington Town Day; a photo of volunteers participating in a round of recycling sorting at the Volunteer Olympics; a photo of fresh lettuce, peppers, and carrots from Farmer Tim’s Vegetables; a photo of attendees at the documentary screening of a “A Place at the Table.”
Image Description: A dark yellow banner with the words “A Fall Banquet” positioned in the center. On the left is an image of a tree in autumn with collard greens and strawberries around its trunk. On the right are two images of buffet dishes, one of appetizers and dessert and another of an entrée.
The year closed with a mix of grand accomplishments, unexpected deliveries, and community events!
🍂 We received a surprise donation of 39 cases of collard greens in October! The next month, the Boston Area Gleaners supplied us with 10 pallets of yogurt. In December, thanks to the support of 14 volunteers, we hand-unloaded eight pallets of soup from Kevin’s Natural Foods.
🍂 We are so proud of our volunteers! Seven of our high school-age volunteers qualified for the Presidential Service Award after completing 100+ volunteer hours in a single year. The weekend after Thanksgiving is one of our busiest times of year – this year, we had the support of 90 volunteers who contributed almost 180 volunteer hours over two days.
🍂 In October, we hosted a community open house for our volunteers, recipient agencies, and food donors. Representatives of various volunteer shifts and partner organizations spoke about their work and staff provided attendees with tours of our hub. We also participated in Three Squares New England’s annual Ride for Food event in partnership with our friends at the Arlington Dems.
🍂 In response to the reduction of funding for the Healthy Incentives Program (HIP), we shared the Massachusetts Food System Collaborative’s Call to Action. Additionally, our Executive Director Rachel, Logistics Manager Alex, and Senior Communications and Outreach Coordinator Shannon attended the Collaborative’s forum in December. As the year came to an end, we continued to monitor the extension of the 2018 farm bill.
Image Description: A collage of four photos surrounded by dark yellow borders. In the center of the collage inside a dark yellow circle are the words “Fall at Food Link” above a graphic of a tree in autumn with collard greens and strawberries around its trunk. (From left to right, top to bottom): a photo of Ride for Food participants, a photo of volunteers and staff in front of two soup-loaded Food Link vehicles, a photo of two boxes of Stonyfield organic strawberry yogurt, a photo of Executive Director Rachel presenting at a Massachusetts Food System Collaborative Forum panel.
Image Description: A dark purple banner with the words “Wrapping Up” in the middle surrounded on ether side by graphics of clean dishes.
We are so grateful to our volunteers, community partners, and supporters for making 2024 a satisfying and flavorful year for Food Link! Each season brought us much joy and excitement along with new challenges that we tackled together.
In 2025, we look forward to continuing to listen and respond to the needs of the communities we serve through our direct outreach to our recipient agencies and our participation in our local coalitions. We are particularly eager to source more culturally relevant foods and ensure that our operations remain sufficient to address the rise in food needs. Together, we can make our vision of a world in which everyone has abundant nourishing food and no edible food goes to waste a reality.