Community meals

by Michael J. DeCicco

The United Way of both Greater New Bedford and Fall River is providing a necessary service at a time when not everyone can afford the best meal for their dinner table, especially at Thanksgiving time.

All year long they have been partners in the Farm-to-Family program that delivers boxes of food and locally grown produce to local food pantries and soup kitchens across the South Coast.

In November, they’ll be continuing their own individual food drive programs at this important time of year.

The Fall River United Way’s executive director Kimberly J. Smith said her agency’s participation with New Bedford in the “Farm to Family” program has distributed approximately 30,000 boxes of donated food in total throughout the South Coast.

The agency also works every year to assemble Thanksgiving baskets with the help of the Frank M. Silvia Elementary School in Fall River, in a partnership with Bristol County Savings Bank and Stop and Shop, she added. Last year the agency assembled more than 30 baskets for families in need.

This year the Fall River United Way will continue its partnership with the Silvia School and Bristol County Savings to distribute close to $40,000 of food grants, Smith said, “to support local pantries in our effort to alleviate hunger across the South Coast, as we have provided every year. We are also continuing our partnerships with local food vendors who are donating to us."

Team effort

This year the United Way of Greater New Bedford distributed an average of 800 to 1,000 20-pound boxes of food per week since the Farm to Family Program started in May, said Victoria Grasala, the New Bedford United Way’s Vice President of Marketing and Community Engagement. With USDA grant funding, Sid Wainer bought the food and other supplies for the boxes and put them together for delivery, she said.

Just as this program has ended, it will naturally dovetail into the agency’s other, related effort, its yearly Hunger Heroes program in November. On this Family Volunteer Day, the agency’s big volunteer drive, 300 to 600 heroes pack Thanksgiving meals on the Saturday before Thanksgiving Day every year, Grasala said.

The turkeys and side dishes, vegetables, etc., are packed into separate roasting tins and then into sturdy banana boxes before being trucked to the various food pantries in the area on Thanksgiving Day. Meals and turkeys are boxed separately because some recipients don’t eat turkey, or their turkeys are being donated from another source, Grasala explained.

On Family Volunteer Day, Grasala said, the program delivers an average of 1,000 Thanksgiving turkeys and meals purchased through a Community Development Block Grant every year. It’s a program where all ages of volunteers lend a hand, she said. “We can get the energy from the young volunteers,” she reflected. “Kids as young as three have been involved."

Our volunteers really get into it. They feel a part of something important.

There are so many ways for even the youngest person to get involved in the effort, she said. Parents will take their child to the grocery store to help shop for the food items needed. On the day that food boxes are to be organized, the kids work on the packing line or coloring the greeting cards that accompany them. Parents hold the tins while their children place the foods in.

Because of COVID-era restrictions, there will be more, shorter shifts this year. But Grasala is not expecting any less enthusiasm from volunteers. “I’d be talking to my three-year-old nephew while he’s working, and he’d say, ‘Auntie, I have a job to do!’ Our volunteers really get into it. They feel a part of something important."

Grasala calculates the agency has spent $37,000 on the food that it has donated. “The need has grown immensely,” she said. She proves this latter point with her other calculation. The Greater NewBedford United Way donated 35,000 pounds of food last year. “This year,”she said, “we’ve distributed 1.2 million pounds of food.”

Those interested in volunteering for any of the New Bedford United Way’s programs should go to unitedwayofnb.org then to the volunteersouthcoast.org tab. Sign-up for Family Volunteer Day starts in October, but slots fill up fast, Grasala said

Michael J. DeCicco has worked as a writer for over 30 years. He is also the author of two award-winning young adult novels, Kaurlin’s Disciples and The Kid Mobster. He lives with his wife Cynthia in New Bedford.

We Want To Hear From You! Survey’s – Artist Intake Form Help us Build a Stronger Art & Culture Community Volunteer • Become a Partner Be a Sponsor • Things To Do Places To Eat • Places To Stay creativeartsnetwork.org