Fountain of Grace Church aids food-insecure residents

Boxes of food are organized for distribution at Fountain of Grace Church.

The community of Fountain of Grace Church on Turnpike Street has long been committed to helping church goers as well as community members in need of support. Since June of 2022, the church has partnered with Food for Free in Somerville in order to provide fresh and shelf-stable food for as many people as possible who are experiencing food insecurity.

Melinda Mitchell, a deacon at Fountain of Grace, has been a member of the congregation for the last 13 years. She explained that before the COVID-19 pandemic, church members visited shelters, spent time with people on the streets in Brockton and Boston, and went to nursing homes as part of their ministry to help in any way they could.

The spread of COVID stopped their efforts, however. It was then that through a connection with Wegmans Supermarket, they were approved to receive food from the grocer and distributed it to those in need. “We started with Wegmans and got about 10 grocery bags of food initially,” Mitchell said. By the time, the number of bags had grown to 27, church members sought other sources of food for the increasing number of people who lacked sufficient food for themselves and their families.

The church learned about the Brookline Food Co-op, which receives food items from several grocery chains, and began to receive food donations from that location. “When our need got to be so great, they decided to put us on to Food for Free directly,” Mitchell said, “so they could deliver directly to us.”

Food for Free is the leading food rescue and distribution nonprofit dedicated to providing reliable access to fresh and nutritious food to Eastern Massachusetts communities.

Headquartered in Somerville, the organization rescues food that would otherwise go to waste and creates new distribution channels to reach underserved populations in 26 communities across the region. Founded in 1981 as one of the nation’s first food rescue organizations, Food for Free now serves more than 150,000 Massachusetts residents facing food insecurity and distributes 6.2 million pounds of nutritious fresh and prepared foods annually.

Food for Free encompasses a number of food distribution programs. Fountain of Grace receives food through their Just Eats program, which was developed during the pandemic to meet increased demand. Just Eats is a boxed food program that distributes 1,280 boxes of food every single week to food programs, such as food pantries, low-income housing sites, and community programs, for safe, nutrition-focused distribution. Through this program, Food for Free also distributes up to 27,500 pounds of bulk produce and shelf-stable food to community pantries and low-income housing sites.

“The focus is fresh fruits and vegetables,” said Alex Gladwell, Food for Free’s senior manager for partnerships and programs. She added that Fountain of Grace receives their food in bulk from Just Eats and is one of their mobile markets.

When the church first connected with Food for Free in June of 2022, it received as much as seven pallets of food weekly. They now receive about two to two and a half pallets, which are delivered each Thursday afternoon, or occasionally Friday morning. The amount of food depends on what is available weekly. Five to eight volunteers from the church unpack the food and load it into boxes for the Friday drive-by pickups, which start at noon and end at 2 p.m. in the church parking lot.

Everyone receives one box of food containing fresh vegetables, rice and beans, and as many other food items as possible. Each week the church fills between 260 and 280 boxes of food for distribution to individuals on Fridays.

Gladwell said that when an organization partners with Food for Free, they are asked to list food preferences, especially those that may be preferred by people of a particular culture. Just Eats distributes culturally relevant foods whenever possible, such as Maseca corn flour to communities with a Latinx population. A number of individuals from Haitian, Cape Verdean, Nigerian, and Latinx communities seek food from Fountain of Grace.

Food for Free receives most of its food from the Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB). They also purchase items from a purveyor to supplement if needed. During COVID, another source of food was a GBFB program called Produce Direct Delivery, which provided fresh produce directly from a purveyor to a distribution site. That program ended in September of 2023. “That significantly receded the extra produce that we had available.” Gladwell said.

Gladwell said that Food for Free was low on some items for Fountain of Grace for the March 21 scheduled delivery. However, they were still able to deliver nine cases of yucca, two cases of plantains, seven cases of avocados, eight cases of potatoes, five cases of apples, ten cases of Brussels sprouts, 11 cases of oats, and 11 cases of tuna along with other food stuffs.

Additionally, volunteers from Fountain of Grace pick up boxed food from Wegmans on Wednesdays; when those boxes are emptied, they are used to pack food for people for the Friday distribution. Other sources continue to provide donations to Fountain of Grace. This allows the church to add bakery and dairy items, prepared foods, and occasionally meat to the boxes.

Mitchell said that the process for anyone in need to receive food from Fountain of Grace is a simple one. “Just come by and join the line,” she said.

Mitchell is pleased with the fact that Fountain of Grace, with the support of others, is able to help so many people. “We started with 10 bags and now we have 260, 280 boxes. It’s excellent,” she said. She hopes to find other sources of food in order to help as many people as possible.

“My vision is to feed 2,000 people,” Mitchell said. “I’m working toward it day by day. Once God can see that you are faithful with a little, he will trust you with more.”

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