Food Insecurity – It’s more than someone feeling hungry. It’s the struggle that up to one-third of Massachusetts residents face when they don’t know how they’ll get their next meal or how they’ll feed their family. It’s a struggle between choosing food or paying the costs of housing, utilities, medical care, transportation, or other necessities.
The Bedford and Concord Rotary Clubs and Meals of Hope want to make that choice easier. With the financial support of sponsors and individuals and the physical support of volunteer packagers, the thousands of packaged meals that will be put together on Saturday, April 27th, will be given, free, to local food banks and food pantries in our area.
A 2022 Greater Boston Foodbank statewide survey of more than 3,000 individuals revealed that of those reporting that they experienced food insecurity, more than half relied on a food pantry for food. And, of the households with children, 60% were food pantry users. They’re the ones that, in partnership with Meals of Hope, Rotary is working to help.
Meals of Hope’s stated mission, “To inspire and empower communities to come together to end hunger,” is underscored by their belief that “it is their job to feed people.” They tell their history as having begun as a meal packing organization, and that they are the only meal packing organization with a priority on keeping the food packed within the United States.“ A part of that history they say, “We developed five meals specifically designed for the American palate with added vitamins, minerals and proteins to supplement an unbalanced diet” – a diet that is often a symptom of food insecurity.
Jack Day, Vice President of Meals of Hope and a Chelmsford resident says, “We are excited to partner with the Bedford and Concord Rotary Clubs, who have so generously pledged to help end hunger in our community. Meals of Hope originated in 2007 as a Rotary project aimed at the time to assist a school in Haiti. Since that event, we have packed nearly 100 million meals across the country. Our goal in New England is to pack 2 million meals this year, and this event will be a tremendous contribution towards that end. Special thanks to Debi Malone and her team for their confidence in Meals of Hope to join in this important project!”