To create a food secure region, we must address the SNAP Gap – the percent of people who are eligible for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) but are not getting it. SNAP is a powerful piece of our collective toolkit to alleviate hunger, lift individuals and families from poverty, and improve local economies. SNAP is a federal program that provides recipients with a monthly food allowance used to purchase food at local stores. However it can be difficult to navigate the SNAP enrollment process. Feedback from ONT guests sheds light on the challenges including lack of access to the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) to enroll in person, uncertainty if they are eligible for benefits, and low benefit allowances.
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ONT is now a SNAP enrollment site to ensure registering for these benefits is as accessible and easy as possible. Tress Ricker, ONT’s Food Resource Advocate, is available to help new applicants navigate the application process, answer questions about qualifying for SNAP and recertifying current SNAP beneficiaries. Not only will neighbors have access to more nutritious food, SNAP benefits will also free up money that can be used towards medication, rent and other living expenses. We’re thrilled to have Tress here as a friendly face and companion to help navigate an often intimidating and confusing web of services. To schedule a time with Tress for SNAP help, call 978-388-1907 x18 or pop into the intake office during Market hours. 

​The holidays are a time of cheer and gratitude as folks enjoy spending time with loved ones and celebrating the joys of the season. What better way to say "thank you" for your life’s blessings than to pay it forward? Read on to find out ways to give back this holiday season with ONT.

• Give the gift of food security – every dollar donated provides 1 meal for a neighbor. You have the power to make a difference in someone’s life this holiday season.
• Volunteer your time! In addition to our regular volunteer shifts, ONT will have additional shifts during the weeks of Nov. 19 – 23 and Dec. 17 – 21 to help with holiday grocery distribution. We will need extra hands to ensure a smooth process for our guests. If you have not volunteered before, please complete a volunteer application and attend orientation before volunteering in our programs.
• Hosting a holiday party or family gathering? Make it impactful during the season of giving by asking your guests to bring a donation to ONT to help a family this holiday season. Whether it be a financial donation, gift cards or non-perishable food items, your guests can brighten the holiday season for their neighbors. If you are planning to collect food donations or host a food drive, please reach out to Melanie for more information.
• Don’t know what to give the person who has everything? Looking for the perfect hostess gift? Consider a donation to ONT in their honor! We will send the person a letter notifying them of your gift (if you provide their name and address). And if you donate online, your email donation receipt includes a card at the bottom that you can print and give to the recipient. Corporate groups have also made a donation to ONT in honor of their partners or employees for the holidays. What better holiday gift than the gift of food security!
• Join the Breakfast Club and make giving a priority year round! You can set up a monthly (or quarterly or weekly) donation on your credit card or through your bank. Breakfast Club members give regularly so every person can begin their day with wholesome and nutritious food throughout the year.
• Interested in volunteering as a group? ONT has sponsor and serve opportunities at the Wednesday Meal and in the Market. Groups of up to 8 come together to either serve the 3 course Wednesday Meal or assist guests with their weekly shopping in the Market. There are a few 2019 dates available in the Market, but the Wednesday Meal is booked through 2019 so make it part of your new year’s resolution and schedule your 2020 date.

If you have any questions about giving back to ONT, please email Lesley or call her at 978-388-1907 x13.

This year's Annual Breakfast drew 300 community members, our largest crowd to date! It was an inspiring and energizing morning for all in attendance as we saw the power of neighbors helping neighbors, and how support yesterday and today can create a brighter future. The actions of volunteers, donors and community partners are "Feeding the Future" and changing lives for years to come.

We were honored to have Joshua Frappier and Jill Weiss Hrubes share their personal experiences with ONT with the audience.  Josh came to ONT with his family as a kid, and then came to depend on the Wednesday Meal when he was living on his own as teenager. Jill started volunteering with ONT in the early years, but after a divorce found herself needing ONT’s services to feed her 3 boys as a single mom. It was powerful to hear how the nourishing food and kindness Jill and Josh received from ONT during a tough time in their lives propelled them forward. Jill put herself through school and her boys are now in college or have graduated from college. Josh is now the CEO of the Frappier Group and served 2 tours with the Marines overseas. The support from ONT fed their futures and changed their lives.

Dr. Lars Lundgren, CEO of Children’s Health Care, also participated on our panel to share ONT’s new partnership with the practice to screen for food insecurity in children. In an especially moving moment of the morning, Jill explained how she would have been hesitant to share the family’s struggles with food insecurity with her kids’ pediatrician for fear of losing her children. Children’s Health Care is committed to connecting their patients and their families with the necessary resources, including food. Thanks to Dr. Lundgren and his team for turning this model of care on its head.

Another highlight of the morning was honoring our 2019 Community Champions. Jonathan Burke was honored as our Individual Champion for advocating for our mission and setting an honorable example for our future community leaders. Jonathan started volunteering with ONT’s Wednesday Meal for high school community service when he was 15. Now 24, Jonathan has rarely missed a Wednesday helping in the kitchen. US Foods was honored as our Corporate Champion for their in-kind support of ONT as a food rescue partner. US Foods has donated almost 1 million pounds of food in the last 2 years, quality food that enhances our Market and Meal programs. It would have been easier to throw that surplus food in the dumpster, but US Foods is committed to donating it back to the community and onto the tables of our neighbors.
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Special thanks to Dana Marshall of 92.5 the River for serving as our emcee and panel host. Thank you to all who attended, sponsored and donated to feed the future. After the Breakfast, a first-time attendee captured it perfectly. "When you engage a community using authenticity and an undeniably deep,human connection, you create powerful opportunities to change lives in the most extraordinary  ways...this morning was a clear validation that the ONT mission is being carried out one person at a time."  

​You probably know the acronym PTO, short for Paid Time Off, but have you ever heard of VTO—Volunteer Time Off? David Berlind says “I was a chronic procrastinator about volunteering, I always had an excuse. But then my company said take 56 hours a year and go work for someone else. So, I didn’t have any excuses anymore.”

David came to ONT volunteer orientation in January 2019, and quickly got involved doing restocking in the market on Wednesdays and food donation pickups on Thursdays. David logged his volunteer hours with the company he works for, Salesforce. Doing two, sometimes three shifts every week though, David hit his 56 hours of VTO pretty quickly. But according to David, “I can’t stop. I feel like I’m now part of a family.” In August, Salesforce awarded Our Neighbors’ Table a “Volunteer Rockstar Grant” in David’s name.
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David will tell you one of the things he loves about ONT is its size and local impact. “Because it’s small, you get to see the effectiveness of the organization. You get to know guests, and their kids.” When David first inquired about volunteering, he says he envisioned a food pantry with the bare necessities. Now, he has realized ONT is able to bring joy and abundance to families that can’t normally afford treats like the cakes David picks up from Stop and Shop on his usual Thursday volunteer shift. David echoes a sentiment that is common among our volunteers, “Any one of use could get something that knocks us on our feet. It’s up to the rest of us to take care of one another, especially in this political climate.” David has lived in Newburyport since 2003. When he is not working or volunteering, he likes to fix old radios and amps, play guitar, sail, and be with his family. 

November and December are a busy time at Our Neighbors' Table! Please check out our upcoming important program dates.

Community Events:

• Saturday, 11/23: Fill a Cruiser at Stop & Shop (Amesbury) and Crosby's Marketplace (Georgetown) thanks to the hard work of the Amesbury, Georgetown, Merrimac, Salisbury and West Newbury Police Departments! 
• Thursday, 11/28: Booster Food Drive at Amesbury v. Newburyport football game
• Sunday, 12/1: Watch for us in the Merrimac Santa Parade!
• Saturday, 12/7: Look for us in the Amesbury Holiday Parade!

Thanksgiving Holiday Food Distribution (by appointment):

• Tuesday, 11/19: 12:00pm - 3:00pm
• Wednesday, 11/20: 12:00pm - 3:00pm; 4:00pm - 6:00pm
• Thursday, 11/21: 3:00pm - 6:00pm
• Friday, 11/22: 9:00am - 12:00pm; 2:00pm - 4:00pm
• Saturday, 11/23: 9:00am - 12:00pm

Christmas Holiday Food Distribution (by appointment):

• Tuesday, 12/17: 12:00pm - 3:00pm
• Wednesday, 12/18: 12:00pm - 3:00pm; 4:00pm - 6:00pm
• Thursday, 12/19: 3:00pm - 6:00pm
• Friday, 12/20: 9:00am - 12:00pm; 2:00pm - 4:00pm
• Saturday, 12/21: 9:00am - 12:00pm

Wednesday Meal:

• There will be a meal the day before Thanksgiving on Wednesday, 11/27. Join us for meatball subs, fresh vegetable and soup of the day.
• The Christmas dinner with Santa will be Dec. 11, featuring free pictures with Santa, musical entertainment and lots of holiday cheer! 

Office & Market Holiday Closures

• The ONT Office and the Market will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday Nov. 28 - Dec. 1. There will be no grocery programs Nov. 28 - 30. 
• The ONT Office and all programs are closed Dec. 23 - Jan. 1, re-opening on Jan. 2, 2020. There is no Wednesday Meal on Dec. 25 or Jan. 1.

​Originally published as a column in the September 21 edition of the Newburyport Daily News: 
In our history, local food drives, collecting nonperishables purchased by community members, were a vital part of filling the shelves in Our Neighbors’ Table’s food pantries. Early partnerships with local stores like Stop & Shop and Vermette’s yielded a trunk full of surplus bread or desserts. But for most of our 27 years, most of our food came either from food drives, direct purchases or from a food bank. Today, things look a little differently. More than 25% of the food that stocks our markets is “rescued” from local retailers and wholesalers, redirected from landfills to our shelves and ultimately to neighbors who can really use it.
 
Our Neighbors’ Table, based in Amesbury, has been providing dignified food assistance to northeastern Essex County since 1992. In 2016, we turned the traditional food pantry model on its head, replacing it with a one-of-a-kind grocery market that guests and community members have likened to Stop & Shop or Whole Foods. In 2018, more than 4,000 people living in the greater Newburyport area shopped for groceries in our markets, now located in Amesbury, Newburyport and Merrimac. In 2018 we declared Amesbury a Food-Secure City and now set our sights on doing the same in Salisbury, Merrimac and Newburyport by the end of 2020.
 
While serving our neighbors in need is our primary mission, “rescuing” food and being good stewards of our land has also become an important part of our operation. Here are just a few of the ways ONT is lessening the impact of waste on our environment.

1. Keeping food out of landfills. Every year, the US food system throws out billions of pounds of perfectly good food. These foods are rejected because of packaging, restrictive guidelines and because we’ve been trained to only take a perfectly red apple. Since January, 1, 2019, ONT has already diverted 250,000 pounds of high quality, wholesome food (mostly meats, vegetables, and other valuable perishables) from the landfill to our market shelves.
2. Minimizing our own waste. ONT partners with local pig farmers for food waste and recycles its paper, metal and plastic waste. We are selective about the food donations we accept and work to educate our volunteers, donors and guests on the truth about “ugly” fruits and vegetables. We hope this will foster their own smarter shopping as well.
3. Minimizing household waste. Traditional food pantries often ration and pre-determine the selection of foods. This approach actually encourages shoppers to stockpile from week to week until they have enough of an item to have enough to feed a family. At ONT, shoppers are welcomed to take what and how much they need and can trust that the food supply is consistent and accessible every week. As a result, guests have reduced the amount of food they take each week by over 10% and, most importantly, they use everything they take.
4. Incentivizing re-usable bags. Like everyone else, we also hate plastic shopping bags. But not everyone can afford re-usable bags – and sometimes we just forget them at home! We’ve distributed thousands of re-usable bags and use fun incentives like gift card raffles to encourage our shoppers to bring them each week. We’re a long way from the finish line, but I’d guess we’ve since cut our use of plastic bags by more than 50%.

 
There’s still a long way to go for the mainstream food industry, from restaurants to grocery store patrons, to become better shoppers and reduce waste in our food supply chain. For now, ONT has been able to put that surplus and rejected food to good use. I’d also like to think we can serve as a model for us all to change the way we take food for granted and lessen our own footprints in the vast land of food waste.

The summer is bittersweet. We get to drink up the sun and warmth of one of the best times of year in coastal New England. At the same time, we are reminded that time has passed quickly and another year will soon be history.

Here at ONT, Summer 2019 marks the half-way point for 2020 Strategic Plan: A Path to Food Security, which charts our course to raise awareness of food insecurity in our region, build ONT’s partnerships and capacity to address need, and, most importantly, to ensure that the communities of Amesbury, Newburyport, Salisbury and Merrimac can become food-secure. These are ambitious goals and it sometimes feels daunting to think we could achieve them in just 18 more months. However, now seems like the perfect time to recap how far we’ve come in the last year-and-a-half to motivate us to the finish line.
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Creating a Food-Secure Region is a marathon, not a sprint. Some miles will be tough, while others are a smooth, flat coast (our Run Out Hunger team members will agree down-hill can be just as hard as up). But, through partnerships and solidarity with our neighbors, we are getting closer and closer to our goal.

​Join us at Newburyport's Cashman Park for our popular annual food truck festival! Presented by the Institution for Savings, Fill 'Em Up Fest is a family-friendly event featuring delicious food from the area's best food trucks, local beer, live music from Alex Anthony and games for the kids. 

Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door. Children 12 and under are free!

Can we fill 'em up? You can help feed 30 neighbors for a whole year! Your ticket purchase supports the 1 in 16 people living in our region who don't know where their next meal is coming from, including 1 in 5 seniors and 1 in 8 children. Every dollar donated provides 1 meal to a neighbor. 
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Last year's favorites Empanada Dada, Phoenix Rising, Clyde's Cupcakes and Chick & Dogs are joined by Big Rig BBQ , Metzy's and Sacred Cod. Hope to see you on September 7! 

Lisa Flynn wasted no time diving into volunteering after she retired, and it didn’t take her long to become a regular volunteer with Our Neighbors’ Table! She came to volunteer orientation after a few weeks of retirement at the recommendation of Beth and Alan Ayres (amazing ONT volunteers themselves!). Lisa immediately felt the power and warmth of the ONT community.
​“It feeds the soul,” Lisa will tell you, “The people- volunteers, guests, staff—good people doing good things.” Very quickly, Lisa was volunteering every week at the Wednesday Meal (she’s the “Salad and Soup Lady”) and in the ONT office as receptionist. Read more about Lisa in the month's Volunteer Spotlight.

​These Great Neighbors are making a big impact on hunger. Join their ranks and become a Great Neighbor today! 

Summer 2019 marks the half-way point for 2020 Strategic Plan: A Path to Food Security, which charts our course to raise awareness of food insecurity in our region, build ONT’s partnerships and capacity to address need, and, most importantly, to ensure that the communities of Amesbury, Newburyport, Salisbury and Merrimac can become food-secure. These are ambitious goals and it sometimes feels daunting to think we could achieve them in just 18 more months. However, now seems like the perfect time to recap how far we’ve come in the last year-and-a-half to motivate us to the finish line.

Creating a Food-Secure Region is a marathon, not a sprint. Some miles will be tough, while others are a smooth, flat coast (our Run Out Hunger team members will agree down-hill can be just as hard as up). But, through partnerships and solidarity with our neighbors, we are getting closer and closer to our goal.
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Click on the below photos for further details about ONT's progress to date!

​In 2018, ONT conducted a regional needs assessment to better understand for whom and why food insecurity continued to be a significant problem. Nearly half of those testing positive for food insecurity were parents or grandparents with children 0-18 in the home. For these families, the number one reported reason for worrying about or going without adequate, quality food was not having enough money to cover the expenses of living, including being able to buy enough food.
 
In the survey, ONT asked if these families were using any private or public programs to help keep food on the table. These responses were just as troubling:

• Less than half of families in need utilize free or reduced meals at school
• 58% were using local food programs (like ONT or other similar programs)
• 1 out of 5 are enrolled in SNAP
• 1 in 4 are enrolled in WIC

 
With this information in hand, ONT has set out to reach these families and we’re starting where we know most families go: the pediatrician’s office! Thanks to Massachusetts’ strong focus on access to health care over the last 15 years, nearly all children are seen regularly by their pediatrician. In 2018, ONT partnered with Newburyport-based Children’s Health Care to ensure that screening for food insecurity would be an integral part of providing preventive care to children across our region.
 
The ONT-CHC partnership builds on a growing interest in the health care field to integrate “Social Determinants of Health” into health care. These are the non-medical factors that can influence someone’s well-being, like poverty, pollution, or community violence, and, research shows, has strong correlations to increased illnesses and costs of health care.
 
In early 2019, ONT trained 75 CHC staff – physicians, nurse practitioners, medical assistants and even office staff – on the prevalence and effects of food insecurity in our region, how to discuss concerns with caregivers in a compassionate manner, and, most importantly, how to connect families with ONT’s Food Resource Advocate to ensure they will get connected with helpful and much-needed food resources.
 
Food insecurity is a community problem, and it is also a very personal matter. Parents are guarded and, for many reasons, fearful of talking about their struggles. Through this partnership, ONT and CHC are building trust and offering real solutions to local families. The goal: no more families fall through the cracks and every child and their parent have the nourishing food they need to thrive.

​Lisa Flynn wasted no time diving into volunteering after she retired, and it didn’t take her long to become a regular volunteer with Our Neighbors’ Table! Lisa retired from Welch’s (the jam and jelly company) in December last year and came to ONT volunteer orientation at the beginning of February. Lisa’s friends and amazing ONT volunteers Beth and Alan Ayres highly recommended Our Neighbors’ Table. Lisa immediately felt the power and warmth of the ONT community. “It feeds the soul,” Lisa will tell you, “The people- volunteers, guests, staff—good people doing good things.”

Very quickly, Lisa was volunteering every week at the Wednesday Meal (she’s the “Salad and Soup Lady”) and in the ONT office as receptionist. Lisa shares her professional skills by meticulously assisting ONT’s development team with thank you letters for donations, but her real passion lies in working directly with guests. “I love working with people, and being able to make someone’s life a tiny bit better feels better than anything else in this world.” She looks forward to getting trained as a guest intake volunteer so she can welcome new market guests and help them get the resources they need.
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Lisa lives in Newburyport with her husband Dennis. In her free time she enjoys baking (the products of which she shares with staff and volunteers at ONT!), crocheting, and spending time with her family and dog.