Hope for the Hungry | Rotary Club of Bedford

How's it taste?

That’s what Bedford Rotarians were finding out at their Tuesday (1/14) meeting’s taste test of seven different meal options offered by Meals of Hope.

Why? Because planning is well underway for Hope for the Hungry 2025, this year’s annual Rotary Club of Bedford meal-packing project to combat food insecurity. Meals of Hope, the club’s backbone project partner, continues to help guide the effort and its local food-insecurity focus.

Jack Day, Vice President and Meals of Hope’s northeast leader, strategist, and meal-packing coordinator, accompanied by the club’s Hope for the Hungry team leader, Debi Malone, served up a mini smorgasbord of seven different meals to taste. Ultimately, one will be the winning selection for packaging at the Saturday, April 26^th, meal-packing event.

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MEALS packaged, boxed, and destined to provide real Hope for the Hungry throughout dozens of local cities and towns.

That’s the result of the months of Bedford and Concord Rotary Clubs’ Hope for the Hungry project planning. It all culminated on the morning of Saturday, April 27^th, when 160 volunteers gathered at the Bedford campus of Middlesex Community College and put together more than 6,700 six-meal packages in only two hours. To put that in a bit more context, that’s almost 60 packages or almost 340 meals per minute.

Hope for the Hungry - Creating Hope in the World

The end of this 2023-2024 Rotary Year is approaching. The year’s Presidential theme, CREATE HOPE in the WORLD, set by Rotary International President Gordon R. McInally will soon be celebrated by Rotarians SHARING HOPE WITH THE WORLD at the 2024 RotaryInternational Convention.

“We must refocus our efforts to build peace across the globe,” he said. “And we must help each other find peace within – and share that ethic of care to the people we serve.”

It’s a message that has driven this year’s Rotary goal of bringing hope to those affected by mental health challenges.

The MCC Story

On April 27^th, after a five-year absence, the Rotary Club of Bedford will reunite with Middlesex Community College for the club’s 9^th annual meal-packing effort to feed hungry people around the world. The college last partnered with the club and hosted the meal-packing at its Bedford campus in 2019. This year, the story of the Food Pantry program at Middlesex Community College brings a new dimension to the partnership.

The CBS Evening News (2/19/24) reported that a decade ago, there were just 80 college food pantries, and today, there are upwards of 800 on campuses across the nation. Without them, it was said, the struggle with the costs of basic needs affects students’ academic performance and mental health. - MCC operates a Food Pantry on both its Lowell and Bedford campuses.

It has also been reported that nearly 4 million U.S. college students are raising children while getting a degree and that more than a third of those students attend community colleges. - Middlesex Community College is one such college.

What Are You Waiting For?

IT’S NOT TOO LATE!… To give hope to the many people in our own communities whose lives are an ongoing struggle to cope with food insecurity. It could be an older person who lives down the street or a married couple with children. You probably won’t know because they often hide the fact that rent, heat, electricity, or medical costs leave them wondering how they’ll get food.

IT'S NOT TOO LATE... To DONATE! to Hope for the Hungry, the April 27th meal-packing event organized by the Rotary Clubs of Bedford and Concord. The money you donate makes this effort possible. Our project partner, Meals of Hope, provides the ingredients for the meals we’ll pack. A $50 donation provides meals for more than 150 people. But any denomination will help too!

IT'S NOT TOO LATE… To VOLUNTEER! In Rotary we say, “Feel Good by Doing Good” and you can Do Good by participating in the meal packing. In just a couple of hours, on Saturday morning, April 27th, at Middlesex Community College we aim to pack 50,000 meals. We want volunteers who want to “do good” while having fun as packing team members or being part of our packing supply crew. We guarantee you’ll Feel Good afterward.

To donate and volunteer, please click here

The Rotary Clubs of Bedford and Concord have teamed up to pack meals for the hungry and food insecure right here in Massachusetts. Many don't realize that fully 33% of adults in MA were food insecure in 2022, and that number jumps to 62% when looking at adults in the Latin community. Food pantries are seeing unprecedented demand due to COVID, the end of COVID-era benefits, and now high inflation. No one should have to choose between paying for rent, medications or food.