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Food For Free Annual Report 2015 We work with the Boston Area Gleaners to distribute much of the food they glean. Food For Free We’ve recently started partnering with The Daily Table, providing them fresh produce in the summer months when we are overwhelmed by supply. When needed services don’t exist, Food For Bridging the Gap Free steps in ourselves, as with our Home Between Waste and Want Delivery program, which now serves more from the than 100 seniors and people with disabilities BOARD OF DIRECTORS Executive Director every month. Peggy Kutcher President And always, we work with the community Dear Friends and Supporters, —businesses, government, and other John Musser Vice President Let me start by saying thank you. Over the non-profits—to figure out how to improve Dana Philbrook past year, you have collectively increased our food systems, improve access to nutrition Treasurer your contributions and, as a result, Food and to do so efficiently and effectively. Joanna Vanden For Free has nearly doubled our impact. As proud as we are of the impact we’ve Clerk Between July 2014 and June 2015, we had, there is still so much more to do. There Erik Brown distributed 2 million pounds of fresh, are children who, when not in school, Anne Cushman healthy food. That’s twice as much food as struggle to get enough to eat. There are Maggie McNally when I started three years ago. We diverted Bruce Posner families living in motels that have very few Kirsten Sims 1.8 million pounds of food from the waste options other than the McDonalds across Robert Steinberg stream—three times as much food rescued the street. There are thousands of people in as when I joined Food For Free. This is a our communities that struggle to put food STAFF team effort and you have been a critical part on their plates, particularly healthy food. At Sasha Purpura of that team. Thank you! the same time, there are supermarkets, Executive Director universities, hospitals, hotels, restaurants, We envision a world where everyone in our Michelle Holcomb and corporate cafeterias that throw away community has access to fresh, healthy Development Director hundreds of pounds of healthy, edible food food. We believe you share that vision. Food Ryan Lee every day. Help us change that. Operations Director rescue has been a wonderful way to tackle this challenge and, at the same time, prevent With your continued support over the next Ross Richmond Community Partnership this precious resource—food—from going year we can reach more of these businesses Manager to waste. Not only are we one of the oldest that want to find a better solution to their food rescue organizations in the country, Food Rescue own food waste. We can add additional Adam Collins but also one of the largest. We have achieved recipient programs that currently struggle Donald Collins that through tremendous community to include fresh produce in their offerings. Julio Francisco support and through a philosophy of We can build new partnerships with our Christian Oviedo collaboration. Jose Santana community partners to better leverage all of our resources and increase our impact. Tony Leva We work with 110 agencies committed to Home Delivery getting fresh healthy food to our Because of you, we have helped over 25,000 Simon Walsh neighbors. We partner with the Greater individuals access fresh food for themselves Meghan Bodo Boston Food Bank to deliver hundreds of and for their families. We have prevented Field of Greens thousands of pounds of food each year to millions of pounds of food from entering Catie Bekel agencies without transportation that, the waste stream. Together, we can not only Allison Houghton otherwise, would not have access to that continue this work, but improve upon it. Communications food. We partner with Action for Boston Veronica Barron Community Development to offer a mobile food We look forward to another great pantry to homeless families living in motels. year with your support! Food For Free Annual Report 2015 1 PROGRAMS FOOD RESCUE Rescuing and distributing foods that would otherwise be wasted is the heart of Food For Free’s work, and has been since 1981. Food For Free’s Food Rescue programs improve access to healthy foods by rescuing fresh food—food that might otherwise be discarded—and distributing it within the emergency food system. We get this food to the people who need it by partnering with emergency food programs, youth programs, and other programs that reach low-income individuals. Food rescue addresses the twin problems of food insecurity and food waste simultaneously, by moving food from where it is considered waste to where it is much needed. We do this while focusing on fresh foods and local food sources as much as possible. Each morning, our drivers visit grocery stores and other food vendors to collect donations of fresh foods that might otherwise go to waste. In the last year, we have expanded beyond our historical focus on fresh produce by developing our ability to handle prepared foods. We now pick up from both Harvard and MIT dining halls, and we have begun picking up prepared food from our current Whole Foods partners. May through November, we work with eleven farmers’ markets, rescuing food from more than 40 farms and retailers. We collect produce from several CSA distribution sites, rescue from a few farms directly, and work closely with Boston Area Gleaners, distributing much of the produce that they glean from local farms. We supplement this rescued food with fruits and vegetables purchased wholesale. Much of the funding for our food purchases come from the City of Cambridge City Food Fund. From July 2014 through June 2015, we distributed 2 million pounds of food. Of this, 1.8 million pounds was rescued food that might otherwise have gone to waste. This program serves more than 25,000 individuals in partnership with more than 100 food programs in Arlington, Boston, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Lynn, Lowell, Malden, Medford, Peabody, Somerville, and Watertown. THE TRANSPORTATION PARTNERSHIP Through this program, Food For Free picks up food orders from the Greater Boston Food Bank and delivers them to 13 food programs that do not have their own transportation. From July 2014 through June 2015, The Transportation Partnership delivered 972,000 pounds of food. HOME DELIVERY Home Delivery serves low-income Cambridge seniors and people with disabilities, bringing packages of food right to their doorsteps twice a month. Home Delivery now serves 100-105 clients each month. FIELD OF GREENS Hosted by Lindentree Farm, Field of Greens uses organic methods and volunteer labor to grow vegetables for distribution to pantries, meal programs, and shelters. In the last year, Field of Greens staff and volunteers have planted, cultivated, and harvested over one dozen varieties of organically grown vegetables. COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS In 2014, we helped Action for Boston Community Development to launch their Mobile Food Pantry. Food For Free continues to provide fresh produce and transportation services for this innovative program serving homeless families sheltered in motels. The K-Lo Market is a food pantry for families of students at the Kennedy-Longfellow School. This program is a partnership between Food For Free and Kennedy-Longfellow, and is the first of what we hope will be many such new school-based partnerships. 2 Food For Free Annual Report 2015 2015 FOOD DONORS Farms Wholesalers Atlas Farm J. Bonafede Co. Blue Heron Organic Farm Peter Condakes Co. Busa Farm Yell-O Glow Banana Dick's Market Garden Drumlin Farm Restaurants E.L. Silvia Farm Enterprise Farm Chipotle: Fresh Pond Farmer Dave Craigie On Main Gilson Family Herb Enterprises, Ltd. Diesel Cafe Green City Growers Flatbread Hanson's Farm Forge Baking Company Hmong Farms at Flats Mentor Farm Hutchins Farm Retailers Kimball Farm Boston Organics Kimball Fruit Farm Great Harvest Nicewicz Family Farm Harvest Co-Op Market: Cambridge Red Fire Farm Iggy's Bakery Siena Farm Trader Joe's: Fresh Pond Silverbrook Farm Trader Joe's: Memorial Drive When Pigs Fly Farmers Markets Whole Foods Market: River Street Arlington Whole Foods Market: Fresh Pond Belmont Whole Foods Market: Medford Boston, City Hall Whole Foods Market: Prospect Street Boston, Copley Square Whole Foods Market: Beacon Street, Cambridge, Central Square Somerville Cambridge, Harvard Square Cambridge, Kendall Square Somerville, Davis Square Non-profit Partners Somerville, Union Square Boston Area Gleaners Watertown Chelsea Jewish Foundation City Sprouts: Morse School Universities Fair Food Greater Boston Food Bank Bunker Hill Community College The Farm School Harvard Dining Halls The Food Project Harvard Epworth Church Waltham Fields Community Farm Harvard Medical School MIT Dining Halls (Bon Appetit) Other Boston Public Schools The Democracy Center Volpe Center Food For Free Annual Report 2015 3 Did you know that approximately 40% of the food grown in the United States never gets eaten? And what’s worse is that 97% of that winds up in landfill where it generates methane gas—over 20 times more potent a greenhouse gas than C02. That 97% of food waste, were it a country, would be the 3rd largest greenhouse gas emitter following the US and China. This impacts us all. What are we at Food For Free doing about that? Well you all know about our food rescue program, but we try to take it several steps further, following the EPA’s hierarchy of dealing with surplus food. Our top priority is serving the over 100 programs that provide emergency access to food or supplement existing programs with snacks and meals. When we are overwhelmed by supply—particularly in the summer thanks to our many farming partners—we bring the surplus edible food to our new partner, The Daily Table, who offers it at low-cost to residents living in and around Codman Square in Dorchester.

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