In like a lion, out like a lamb. This March marks one year since every aspect of our operation shifted to adapt to COVID-19. Frankly, we’ve had enough lion to last us for the next decade. As we head into 2021, we’ll be channeling the lion’s courage with the calmness of the lamb. We’ll be taking the creativity, flexibility, and determination to provide food to our community and delivering it with kindness and dignity that have shaped our mission for the last 29 years.
Our Annual Report will be released in the next few weeks, but here’s a sneak peak: 5,100 of our neighbors turned to ONT for food in 2020, more than 1600 of them coming for help for the first time. Families with children represented more than 57% of those new faces. But every single one of them was able to shop for the food they needed each week, thanks to our unwavering corps of volunteers, our committed staff, a supportive Board of Directors, and all of the investments that YOU have made in building ONT to create universal food access, even in a pandemic.
Not since last March, have you seen long lines at ONT’s distribution sites. Don’t confuse this calm scene with a lack of need. In fact, there are now more than 10,000 neighbors facing food insecurity. As we reach more and more people, we are committed to serving our community in a way that respects our guests’ dignity, the preciousness of their time, and the need for certainty in putting food on their tables. Our online shopping portal, convenient curbside pick-ups, take-out dinners, and friendly phone support will continue to work behind the scenes to ensure that food remains universally available to all of our neighbors. We’re going to need to continue to invest in our infrastructure to ensure we can meet the need. The establishment of our Ward J Cromer Legacy Society will help us look beyond the year ahead, to prepare us for the lions of the future. There are many things from the past year that we’d like to leave in the past, but we’ll carry forward the lessons we’ve learned, the strength of our growing community of people committed to food security, and the trust we’ve built with each of our neighbors.
 
Our Unity perseveres,
Lyndsey Haight
Executive Director

Last year, ONT launched our formal planned giving program, allowing donors to create a legacy that feeds the future for generations to come. This growing circle of individuals and families who have made this commitment to food security are now part of the Ward J Cromer Legacy Society. Dr. Ward J. Cromer's legacy gift in 2019 gave Our Neighbors' Table the opportunity to expand our work to create food secure communities across our region. Dr. Cromer, a a Massachusetts General Hospital psychologist and gifted teacher, had a generous spirit and passion for helping children and people around the world. His parting gift will continue to impact our neighbors and provide food security for generations to come. Dr. Cromer’s life in service to others and his vision for the impacting the future inspired ONT to name the Ward J Cromer Legacy Society in his honor. ​

Our Neighbors’ Table is pleased to announce that we have been certified by Points of Light, the world’s largest organization dedicated to volunteer service, as a Service Enterprise! Achieving Service Enterprise certification is a prestigious accomplishment for an organization. Our Neighbors’ Table has joined the top 11 percent of nonprofits nationwide in volunteer management and organizational performance. Certification signifies that organizations have the capability and management expertise to strategically use volunteers to improve the performance of their organization.

ONT completed an extensive assessment, over 20 hours of training and coaching, and an extensive internal planning process to continue to improve how we integrate volunteers in all aspects of our organization and service delivery. By achieving this level of excellence and certification, Our Neighbors’ Table is now optimizing how we leverage the time and talent of volunteers to achieve our goal of universal food access.

“As an organization that operated solely with volunteers for 18 years, it was an important exercise for our team of staff to understand the unique context of working in a volunteer-led mission," said Lyndsey Haight, ONT’s Executive Director. “Going through the Service Enterprise process helped us to ensure that we are engaging and supporting volunteers to the best of our ability.”
 
Volunteers are an engrained part of ONT's culture and are essential for our service delivery. As an organization founded by volunteers with such strong roots in volunteerism, ONT is proud to be recognized for the participation volunteers have in our mission!

The Service Enterprise program is a national change management program that helps organizations gain a greater return on volunteer investment to better achieve their mission. For more information regarding volunteer opportunities with ONT, please visit ourneighborstable.org/volunteer. For further information regarding Service Enterprise, please contact the Massachusetts Service Alliance. 

Meet the dynamic father and son duo, Dave and Sam Lyman! Jen, Dave’s wife and Sam’s mom, had attended volunteer orientation in early 2020 and introduced the rest of her family to the organization. Knowing that the pandemic was impacting so many people, Dave and Sam wanted to give back by doing something at ONT. They began volunteering in ONT’s Warehouse, helping to ensure the Market is well-stocked and ready to go for our grocery packers.
 
As long-time Newburyport residents, both Dave and Sam love helping to put food on their neighbors’ tables. They see behind the scenes of how much work goes into the logistics of the Market and what a big impact the time they give as volunteers makes. “I like helping out and knowing that I am doing something good for the community,” Sam said.

They also enjoy the experience of being able to volunteer together. “On the ride home together after moving boxes and setting up the shelves for the next day brings some great conversations about how fortunate we are that we can volunteer, and that ONT is a great organization that helps so many people,” Dave said.
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In their free time, the Lymans are a sporty crew! Sam, a senior at Newburyport High School, plays golf, tennis, lacrosse, and hockey. Both Dave and Sam are avid skiers in the winter and try to get out boating as often as possible in the summer. They take their passion for boating very seriously in the Lyman household, as Sam works seasonally at the Freedom Boat Club and Dave volunteers at the American Yacht Club to help publish their monthly newsletter called the Sailorgram. We’re so glad that they chose to dedicate some time to ONT as valuable members of our volunteer force! 

A healthy staff. Passionate volunteers. A community committed to keeping everyone fed – even in a pandemic. YOU. My family. And the few minutes of serenity I can find here and there. These are all things I’m thankful for this holiday season.

Since my last note to you in August, we’ve registered 303 new guests, including 74 children and 63 seniors, to our grocery programs. Every one of them have been welcomed without question, shop for their groceries online, and have been able to put 15,000 meals on their tables. Including turkeys and all the Thanksgiving fixings.
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The holidays are a time for us to give thanks and celebrate with our loved ones. Holidays can also be a time of sorrow and loneliness, particularly this year. Over the last two months, we’ve been highlighting the Unity in our Community, and there’s no better time to keep this at the forefront of our minds than during the holidays. On social media, we’re sharing holiday traditions that we can share virtually or that remind us of our friends and family while we’re apart. I invite you to share yours with us! Simple things like a good ol’ fashion phone call, dropping off a side dish, or a handwritten card go a long way to let your neighbors know you care. If you’re inclined, you could even consider a virtual Friendsgiving or holiday party using ONT’s online virtual food drive page. Like everything else, the 2020 holidays will be different this year. But one thing remains – the strong commUNITY that bonds us.
 
Stay safe, be well, and spread joy,
Lyndsey Haight
Executive Director

​This year, while we could not gather in-person for the Annual Breakfast, it was more critical than ever for ONT to share how we are meeting the unprecedented need across the region. ONT's Annual Breakfast was broadcast live from the Market at the Jardis-Taylor Center on October 20. This Breakfast's theme was “Unity in Community” in honor of the extraordinary efforts of so many to ensure our neighbors have food on their tables. Despite the virtual nature, the spirit of ONT was alive and well as viewers saw that universal food access is possible, even in a pandemic, when a community comes together. Thanks to a $10,000 challenge from presenting sponsor Institution for Savings, a record breaking $80,000 was raised! The recording of the broadcast is available if you'd like to view the inspiring morning.​

ONT’s Annual Breakfast is a time when we typically gather together and chart our progress toward making sure all of our neighbors have access to wholesome, nutritious food every day. This year, while we could not gather in-person, it was more critical than ever for us to see how we are meeting the unprecedented need across the region.
 
The Annual Breakfast was broadcast live from ONT’s Market at the Jardis-Taylor Center on October 20. This year’s theme was “Unity in Community” in honor of the extraordinary efforts of so many to ensure our neighbors have food on their tables. Despite the virtual nature, the spirit of ONT was alive and captured thanks to pre-record videos of ONT partners, volunteers and former guests. Viewers saw that universal food access is possible, even in a pandemic, when a community comes together.
 
ONT Board Member Dana Marshall of 92.5 the River returned to emcee the morning and hosted a conversation with former guest Dot, who bravely and movingly shared her story. Dana also presented the 2020 community champion awards, another highlight of the broadcast. Beloved ONT volunteer and board member Bob Murciak was honored as the individual champion for his unwavering dedication to ONT. The four school districts of Amesbury, Newburyport, Pentucket and Triton were recognized as champions for going above and beyond to connect their neighbors and students with food in this unprecedented time. Congratulations 2020 Community Champions!
 
Thank you to our presenting sponsor, Institution for Savings, who kicked the broadcast off with a surprise $10,000 match challenge. This challenge helped ONT raise a record-breaking $80,000, which will put over 80,000 meals on the tables of our neighbors. Thanks to everyone who gave and helped spread the word to exceed that challenge! Thank you also to all of our sponsors, who supported this event and hosted virtual watch parties. And huge thanks to LMV Productions for donating his time and talent behind the camera to make the broadcast an inspiring one.  
 
The recording of the Breakfast broadcast is available if you’d like to view the inspiring morning.  Stay tuned to our social media channels as we continue celebrating Unity in Community throughout the rest of the year! 

Kathy Berman had been part of the ONT community as a donor for years. A Certified Public Accountant, Kathy says she had always planned to do “hands-on volunteering somewhere” when she retired. Once she cut back her work hours to part time, she decided to join ONT’s volunteer team and donate her time as well. Kathy has helped out at our Wednesday meal, done customer service in the market, stocked shelves, and worked in the warehouse. These days you can find Kathy in our non-perishables stocking room on Saturdays, filling guests’ orders.
 
“I like the people I work with, the other volunteers and the guests,” Kathy says about how she enjoys coming to ONT. “I grew up poor, and we went without a lot, but we never had to worry about food, but I know there are so many people now who go without meals.”
 
The desire to be part of helping to feed her community is what keeps Kathy coming back to pack grocery bags for ONT’s guests. On those Saturdays when the alarm rings early and she wants to stay in bed, she remembers that “it’s feeding people,” and she always gets up and comes in to pack.

Once Kathy saw how things worked behind the scenes at ONT, she felt good about her decision to be a regular member of the volunteer crew and a donor.  “What amazes me about here is that the guests have a choice in food,” Kathy says. “It makes me proud. I’m proud of this place.” ONT couldn’t run without its dedicated volunteers like Kathy, and we’re proud of her too!

ONT's holiday programs offer a variety of special groceries to help families prepare a delicious holiday meal in their own home for Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

If you are a new guest and have never shopped with ONT before, please visit our new guest registration page to get signed up for the holidays.

Thanksgiving:
New this year, registration will not be necessary for current ONT guests. You will simply order your groceries online as usual the week before Thanksgiving and schedule your pick-up for the following day. You will see the available holiday groceries included in your choice of selections that week (including Thanksgiving turkey or chicken and a $10 gift card). 
There will be extended grocery pick-up hours for Thanksgiving grocery distribution.

• Tuesday, Nov. 17: 11am-2pm, 3pm-6pm
• Wednesday, Nov. 18: 9am-1pm, 2pm-3:30pm
• Thursday, Nov. 19: 9am-1pm, 2pm-7pm
• Friday, Nov. 20: 9am-1pm, 2pm-6pm
• Saturday, Nov. 21: 9am-2pm
• Tuesday, Nov. 24: 11am-2pm, 3pm-6pm

Christmas:
Just like Thanksgiving, pre-registration is not required for current ONT guests. The extra holiday groceries and $10 gift card will be available when you place your grocery order the week before Christmas. We do not have turkeys or chickens for Christmas. 
There will be extended grocery pick-up hours for Christmas grocery distribution on the following days:

• Tuesday, December 15: 12pm - 5:00pm
• Wednesday, December 16: 9am - 3:30pm
• Thursday, December 17: 9am - 6:00pm
• Friday, December 18: 9am - 6:00pm
• Saturday, December 19: 9am - 2:00pm
• Tuesday, December 22: 11:30am - 5:00pm

If you are a new guest and have never shopped with ONT before, please visit our new guest registration page.

Wednesday Meal:

• There will be a meal for takeout the day before Thanksgiving on Wednesday, 11/25. 
• Christmas at the Meal will be celebrated on December 16. It will look a little different this year, but the team is cooking up some holiday goodies and maybe Santa will make a surprise safe appearance! 
• There will be a meal for takeout the day before Christmas Eve on Wednesday, 12/23.

Office & Market Holiday Closures

• The ONT Office and the Market will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday Nov. 26 - Nov. 29. There will be no grocery programs Nov. 26 - 28. 
• The ONT Office and all programs are closed Dec. 24 - Jan. 2 re-opening on Jan. 4, 2021. There is no Wednesday Meal on Dec. 30.

​Meeting the Need Head-On
Lyndsey Haight, Executive Director
While COVID-19 has not directly affected the physical health of most residents in our region, the economic and emotional toll has been astounding. The average unemployment rate for our 12 cities and towns over April, May and June 2020 tops 14%, compared to 2.45% one year ago. Even at the height of the recession, local unemployment average for the region in 2010 was only 7.5%.
Families who were gainfully employed only 6 months ago now rely on stimulus checks, SNAP and programs like Our Neighbors’ Table. With your support, ONT has been able to meet the need head-on and has proudly supported our partners in school districts and councils on aging across the region in working creatively and collaboratively to get food to people every day. From January 1 to July 31, ONT’s grocery programs distributed 845,000 pounds of wholesome foods to 4214 people across the region (up 11% and 24% respectively over last year).
How can we keep up with this increase of demand? Because our community is committed to ensuring everyone’s basic needs are met, even in a global crisis. You are each proving the “Unity” in Community. In just the first 90 days following the shutdown, more than 900 new donors reached out to support ONT’s work. Collectively, as local businesses were struggling, individuals in every community stepped forward and contributed a record $300,000 to keep food on the table for ONT’s guests.
“Uncertainty” seems to be the guiding principle for the near future. But there are 2 things I know for certain: 1) As this crisis continues, need for food assistance will continue to increase; and 2) ONT and its supporters will be here to respond. September is Hunger Action Month. I ask you to continue your resolve, reach out to friends and neighbors who need help, support our efforts by raising awareness, hosting virtual food drives, and, when you can, making a donation. We will continue to win this fight as we work in unity to keep our neighbors food-secure.

STAY CONNECTED

• Join ONT’s email list
• Follow ONT on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter)
• Watch a Hunger Action Month Facebook live

JOIN US

• Register for virtual Volunteer Orientation by filling out a Volunteer Application
• Purchase a ticket to the Annual Breakfast broadcast
• Make a donation
• Become a Breakfast Club member with a recurring donation

BRING YOUR FRIENDS

• Start a virtual food drive
• Host a virtual Table to Table event

​Eve Lee was not familiar with Our Neighbors’ Table when she was invited by a friend to attend ONT’s Annual Breakfast in October of 2016. “I saw all of the amazing things happening at this impactful organization and the amazing people that were involved and I was hooked,” Eve said of her first breakfast experience. She started volunteering in the Market a couple of Saturdays a month, which accommodated her travel schedule for her job in marketing at a medical device company. Soon Eve found herself on the fundraising committee, where she chaired and created ONT’s Fill ‘Em Up Fest.  After joining the board in 2018, she started her term as board chair in June of this year. But her weekly volunteering in the Market remains a priority for her.
“I love working up front at the Market check-in and now at the outside pickup line because I get to interact with guests and get to know them as my neighbors,” Eve said. “Now I even recognize their cars when they drive up!”
Eve had been active with other food security organizations when she lived in Boston, but she says that ONT’s sense of community, where volunteers, guests and staff come together to form a community, feels different than any other place she has volunteered. As board chair, she looks forward to having even more people join the ONT community. “I think more people have realized during the pandemic just how many of our neighbors are on the brink of food insecurity,” Eve said. “And a potential good thing to come out of this situation is that more folks will want to volunteer or financially support organizations like ONT.”
P.S. This year’s Annual Breakfast will be broadcast on Oct. 20. Don’t miss this inspirational event that first hooked Eve! 

“I’ve done everything I can to not have to come here. I’m sorry. I will only take a few things and hopefully won’t have to come too often.” These are the words that we hear almost universally from people coming to get food at Our Neighbors’ Table for the first time. The sacrifices guests make before they walk into our doors for the first time - from cutting out fresh fruits and vegetables, to putting groceries on credit cards, skipping prescription refills in order to buy groceries, or simply not eating for days on end so their children can eat – are substantial. Yet, walking through the door to ask for help is never easy.
 
If you’ve been to an ONT volunteer orientation, you’ve heard the stories; if you’ve volunteered at ONT, you’ve witnessed the guilt, shame and fear first-hand. You also understand it is our number one goal to make every single person feel welcomed and to lift the fear and feelings that may prevent them from coming back.  
 
ONT’s work was founded on the values of Service with Dignity, Community and Respect. Our founders welcomed their neighbors to break bread together so no one went hungry, but more importantly to ensure no one felt they had to go it alone. For 28 years, ONT has been powered by helpers doing what they can, sharing what they have, and lifting each other up along the way, resulting in, perhaps, the first food-secure city in the nation. As they say, rising tides raise all ships. Even after nearly three decades, the perseverance of these values takes work. In 2011, we took the time to articulate them, make them part of our long-term strategies. In 2015, we began and continue training all of our staff and volunteers – new and tenured – to put these values into action. Every day, we ask ourselves if our decisions are aligned with these values and we expect our guests, our community to call us out if we go astray.
 
I love to meet new people and welcome them into our mission. Giving tours and sharing our work is a favorite part of my job. I’ve had the opportunity to sit with new guests and donors alike. And there is a striking difference in the conversations. While just about every guest tries to qualify their request for help, almost every single tour includes the questions: “How do you make sure people really need the help? Do they have to qualify?” In the course of 20 years, I have come to see there are various experiences that compel people to ask this question. Usually, those experiences are 3rd party, stories told, of someone taking advantage of the system. The person in line at the grocery store using food stamps to buy liquor. The breeding of dependency if we let people collect welfare. Maybe they are first-hand: ‘I know Mr. So-and-So comes to your dinner every week but he has money to buy his own food’. There are lots of different perceptions about people who ask for help. It has also been my experience that one shift at ONT getting to know your neighbors who shop here for food quickly replaces those perceptions with relationships, connectedness and, alas, a sense of community. I understand all this. The unknown. A knowledge vacuum filled in with information that may or may not be based in real life, but it fills a void until something else can.
 
But there is something else inherent in the questions about qualifying people to receive help. This question is rooted in the assumption that the help is mine to decide whether or not to share; that I have the power and authority – the right – to decide whether or not someone is worthy to receive food. This power dynamic is inevitable in every charitable food system dependent on the goodwill of a few. At the very core of Our Neighbors’ Table is the belief and practice that we are all deserving; that none of us is more or less deserving to receive help; and none of us is more or less deserving to control when and where help is given. The community invests its time and treasure in our mission because we all agree that food needs to be available to everyone and the community entrusts us to do just that. While many give to our mission under charitable motives, those who sustain our work know we are much more than a charitable food assistance organization; we strive toward universal food security, toward a just food system that serves us all. This can only be achieved when those of us who hold power over resources recognize that power and relinquish it and allow others to gain their own access.
 
True, we carry the burden of only having resources to serve 12 communities when we know our neighboring cities and towns could also use the help. We truly struggle with this every day we turn someone away. But, we have found a way to ensure that our region’s resources are distributed and available universally and our work every day is to achieve that to the best of our ability.
 
In the last month, we have all heard (and maybe even shouted) the cries for an end to racism and the systemic racism that permeates every aspect of American life. Many are organizing or continue their work centuries in the making, many others may be reflecting at home wondering what role might you have played, or what role you can play now.  If you’re reading this, and wondering what you can do, I offer what we, at ONT, have come to know and strive to practice every day as it comes to serving our mission

1. Listening and witnessing firsthand sheds light that is often prevented by distance.
2. Breaking bread together ensures everyone gets to eat and no one has to go it alone.
3. Sharing power rarely, if ever, hurts, but it always helps.
4. The mere fact that you have the choice to consider these ideas means you’re holding a power that others don’t.