Blog Posts - Our Neighbors' Table

ONT Launches Regional Assessment to Understand Barriers to Food

8/20/2018

ONT’s 2020 Strategic Plan lays a Path to Food Security, focusing on the communities of Newburyport, Salisbury and Merrimac, where current data demonstrates greatest need. The core component of ONT’s success in creating a food-secure Amesbury and expanding regional food security is its strategic partnerships with public and private institutions and with private citizens. ONT has convened local leaders to form the Food Security Advisory Group. Members include Anna Jaques Hospital, Children’s Health Care, Mayor Holaday (Newburyport), Mayor Gray (Amesbury), superintendents and school personnel from the Newburyport, Merrimac, Pentucket and Triton school districts, the Merrimac Police Department, Pettengill House, Newburyport and Salisbury Councils on Aging, and the Greater Boston Food Bank.

Over the last 8 months, the Food Security Advisory Group (FSAG) has convened and declared food insecurity an important issue in our region. More importantly, the members of the group have agreed that time and resources need to be dedicated to understanding and addressing hunger and food security for all residents. Working through its Regional Assessment Working Group, member agencies and municipalities have launched the first phase of our regional food security assessment. Surveys are being administered at Anna Jaques Hospital, Children’s Health Care, local Councils on Aging, libraries and online to start to understand where and why local residents experience barriers to getting enough food and getting enough nutritious food.

“Current research shows that 80% of illnesses and hospitalizations are tied directly to the food that we eat,” shares Dr. Gail Fayre, Chief Medical Officer at Anna Jaques Hospital. “Our joint efforts will help inform best practices to address local need.”

Over the next two years, ONT and the FSAG will focus on uncovering areas of unmet need and developing creative strategies to ensure no one falls through the cracks. “Our region is fortunate to have a number of food resources available. The challenge is understanding why people do not or can not participate in these resources and if the existing programs are best suited to meet their need,” states Lyndsey Haight. “But we are deeply encouraged by the interest and commitment of local leaders to solve this problem.”

For more information about the Food Security Advisory Group or how you can get involved with the regional assessment, please contact ONT Executive Director, Lyndsey Haight, at lyndsey@ourneighborstable.org.

Volunteer Spotlight - Mike Pollard

8/17/2018

Have you ever wondered how Our Neighbors’ Table gets all of its food? Well, a large part of it comes from the Greater Boston Food Bank located in South Boston. And thanks to Amesbury resident and ONT volunteer Mike Pollard, it arrives at our Market and into the shopping carts of our guests. Twice a week, Mike drives the ONT box truck down to Boston and brings it back to the Jardis-Taylor Center full of pallets of fresh produce, dairy, meat, and non-perishable items. Mike logs over 165 miles per week for ONT and we would be lost without him!

Mike has been volunteering for ONT for a long time—so long in fact, he can’t remember when he started! He thinks it’s been about four or five years. He began volunteering after he retired from his career as a self-employed chimney sweep. “I had a lot of time on my hands,” Mike said. “I liked the idea of driving. I was a little involved in social programs before but was frustrated not knowing if I was doing things effectively. Driving a truck is straight forward, and I know I’m doing it right.”

Mike is also a key piece of the Merrimac Mobile Market. He drives the truck full of fresh produce and wholesome food to the Merrimac Senior Center one Saturday a month. Mike has a valued volunteerism for much of his life. He served as an AmeriCorps VISTA member in 1970 with New Hampshire Legal Services. When he’s not volunteering with ONT, Mike enjoys exercising, reading, spending time with his wife and finding the best baked goods to satisfy his sweet tooth.

When asked why he volunteers Mike says, “I like giving to the community. It makes me feel good and it’s satisfying. I like being reliable and I believe providing food to people is really important.”

Want to volunteer like Mike? Complete our volunteer application and we'll get you started!

ONT keeps summer fun for all children

8/1/2018

Our Neighbors' Table's Summer Lunch Program has fed 541 so far this summer. This a 45% increase from the number of kids served in 2017!

Now in it's 8th year, ONT's Summer Lunch Program is taking the fear of hunger out of summer and providing healthy meals and snacks to children across the region. Summer is a time of fun, a time to relax from the stress of school, a time to just be a kid. But for more than 2,400 children living in the Lower Merrimack Valley, summer means no school - and no school breakfast and lunch.

Across the region, 1 out of every 8 school children lives in a food-insecure home. For these families, it is already a struggle to afford enough food to feed their children during the school year. At an average cost of $3/meal, the cost of feeding each child for the 9 weeks of summer vacation is $300. Compounded with costs of summer camp and childcare, the loss of school lunches quickly turns summer fun into summer angst.

ONT is proud to provide relief to these families, and to do so with wholesome, nutritious foods that children WILL eat! ONT's market serves families living in northeastern Essex County (see list of eligible towns below) with a genuine weekly shopping experience throughout the year featuring a full array of grocery staples, meats/fish, dairy, and LOTS of fresh produce. The Summer Lunch Program provides each enrolled family with even more groceries specifically for breakfast, lunch and snack foods - foods like fresh oranges, cherries, grapes, carrots, hummus, peanut butter and jelly, wheat bread, lunch meat, milk, eggs, and cereal. Families enrolled in the SLP get BOTH the program items and access to the complete market!

Parents from last year's program shared how the program helped them:
"Summer is hard financially because the kids are home and eat twice as much. God bless and thank you."
"Very helpful with two small children, especially most of the fresh food."
"[The program gave us] more options and stretched [our] food availability"
"My SNAP benefits didn't come this month so I needed everything!"

Whether kids are home for the summer, at daycare, or at summer camp, their parents can get them started with a wholesome breakfast and pack them healthy, nutritious lunches to keep their bellies full and their energy strong to run, jump, and enjoy the summer just like every other kid.

HOW CAN I SUPPORT:
Every $1 donated to the Summer Lunch Program provides 1 more meal to our kids. Make a donation now! Kids now have the opportunity to help their peers struggling with hunger by starting a Fill Em Up Bag! The $25 collected will provide breakfast and lunch for a kid for a howl month! Read more about how you can get your kids involved in giving back to their community.

Lessons to Learn From a Local Philanthropist

5/18/2018

Our Neighbors' Table is grateful to be a 2017 recipient of the Cummings Foundation $100K for 100 grant program. This important grant allows ONT to continue to be innovative in expanding our service delivery options to the surrounding towns. Thanks to the support of the Cummings Foundation, ONT is able to ensure that every person who comes to our door is provided with nourishing food, kindness and dignity.

The Cummings Foundation was started by Bill and Joyce Cummings in 1986 to give back after the success of Cummings Properties, their commercial real estate business. Now one of the largest foundations in New England, Woburn-based Cummings Foundation currently has almost $2 billion in net assets, and it has awarded more than $200 million in grants to Greater Boston nonprofits alone. Its giving is concentrated in Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk counties and benefits a broad range of causes, including human services, education, healthcare, and social justice.

Bill Cummings has written a new memoir, Starting Small and Making It Big, detailing his life, career and his dedication to philanthropy. All proceeds from the sale of the book will go to the good work of the Cummings Foundation. Below is a review of Starting Small and Making It Big.

STARTING SMALL AND MAKING IT BIG
An Entrepreneur's Journey to Billion-Dollar Philanthropist
Review by Heather Lauten, Esq.

Today's corporate temperament prizes decisions made on the basis of a simple opportunistic edict: do what will produce the greatest revenue while consuming the fewest resources. There's nothing wrong with that thinking, per se, but there's a vital piece missing from those broad strokes: doing what's right.

This value system (not to mention our current political discourse) has clouded the confluence between opportunity and opportunism, promoting thinking in which the latter is the province of the prosperous and the former describes a concept that people feel has escaped them. What remains is a society in which too many believe they're helpless to effect change, compelling children to march for their lives in Washington in the face of public apathy, and allowing the civic void to be filled by those who mask intolerance and ignorance by calling it innovation.

In his new memoir, "Starting Small and Making It Big: An Entrepreneur's Journey to Billion-Dollar Philanthropist," Bill Cummings offers a welcome rejoinder to this diminished thinking, showing us not only that hard work and diligence can lead to success but also that success can foment fundamental justice and genuine structural change along the way.

When Cummings first went into business for himself, negotiating a good deal to purchase a hundred-year-old beverage enterprise in 1964, his dad gave him some advice about opportunity that stuck with him: "The most important thing about being lucky," he said, "is recognizing good luck when it comes along, and then taking advantage of it. Life is mostly what we make of the opportunities that come our way."

"Starting Small" details Cummings' story of how, with a practical sensibility and belief in himself and others, along with an eye for making his own luck, he worked his way from conventional working-class beginnings to founding a real estate company with a portfolio of more than 11 million square feet of debt-free space in his totally unleveraged style.

What makes Cummings' self-made-man narrative unique, and worthy of attention, though, is the rest of the story. With the kind of detailed guidance that budding entrepreneurs will earmark for reference, and the charming conversational tone of a man who enjoys telling a tale, Cummings' book describes not only the life he and his wife, Joyce, have created by making the most of the opportunities that have come their way, but also how they have become philanthropists on a scale few accomplish, having already given more than a billion dollars to charitable causes.

Members of the Giving Pledge, established by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates, Cummings attributes his and Joyce's extraordinary dedication to giving back to their community-to institutions large and, mostly, small-to what he describes as their "belief in the goodness of all humanity."

That strong-held belief, Cummings illustrates from the beginning of "Starting Small," comes from his and Joyce's strong family backgrounds, and life-long association with like-minded people who shared their values and supported their endeavors, but it's also clear that Cummings genuinely likes people and has the gift to recognize their best qualities.

"At Cummings Properties, one of our major goals is to find out what good employees do best and then keep them busy doing it," Cummings writes. In "Starting Small," Cummings paints convivial portraits of his colleagues, many of whom have long tenures with his company, the average length of service for the 360-person firm being more than 11 years.

On the occasion of one colleague's 40th anniversary of service with the company, Cummings describes how equipment operator George Holland received not only an engraved rocking chair celebrating the milestone, but was shocked to be handed the keys to the company's first brand-new backhoe, which had his name painted prominently on the door.

Other stories are tender, and at the heart of the book is a tragedy, when Cummings' protégé, 41-year-old Jamie McKeown, was stricken by a fatal heart attack. Cummings' account of his more than 17 years spent mentoring Jamie, and his profound pleasure in having cultivated a person who cared as much about improving his community as he did about growing a company, explains how the loss served as a sort of turning point for Cummings' altruistic views.

In describing Jamie at his funeral service, Cummings said "no man I have ever met cared more about doing the right thing," and that Jamie "led by example." Cummings writes, "Although Joyce and I had formed Cummings Foundation 10 years before Jamie died, his death was a stark reminder to me that if she and I were to do meaningful good things, together with the foundation, we really needed to get started."

Doing the right thing, leading by example, and incorporating charitable giving into every aspect of his immensely successful business is how Bill Cummings has honored Jamie and others who have impacted his and Joyce's thinking, some on a grand scale, and many, many others on a small, local level. In some ways, "Starting Small" is a textbook on how-and why-to give, as individuals, and, importantly, as an integral part of the corporate culture.

A single paperback can be purchased online via Amazon.com and Cummings.com/book for $16.95. Options for discounted bulk purchases - three paperbacks for $40 or a case of 26 books for $300 - can be found at Cummings.com/book. All books are shipped free of charge. Many readers have raved about the book for use as graduation gifts.

Ms. Lauten, an attorney, is a member of the Cummings Properties team.

Table Talk, May 2018: A Food Secure Amesbury

4/30/2018

The mission of Our Neighbors’ Table is to establish a community that provides for the whole person, with nourishing food, kindness and dignity. Today, we celebrate doing just that. On Tuesday, May 8th, before the City Council, Our Neighbors’ Table will recognize the City of Amesbury for its creativity and resolve to ensure no one in the City has to go hungry.

This is a tremendous accomplishment of which the entire City of Amesbury should feel proud. What began as a small group of local volunteers putting on a community meal, has evolved into a lifeline providing food to more than 1 out of 12 Amesbury residents for the last four consecutive years.

Please join us a the May 8th City Council Meeting, Amesbury City Hall, 7:00pm to celebrate this achievement. And thank YOU for all you do to create a food secure community.
Lyndsey Haight
Executive Director

Summer Lunch Program - How You Can Help

For more than 2,400 children living in our region summer means no school - and no school breakfast and lunch. In 2017, Our Neighbors’ Table provided 388 kids with healthy breakfast, lunch and snacks through the Summer Lunch Program. This is a 100% increase in kids served from the previous summer and we expect the program to grow even more in 2018.
How can you help support the Summer Lunch Program?
1. Donate most needed Summer Lunch items at Chamber of Commerce Food Drive at Stop & Shop Amesbury on Saturday, May 5 from 10am - 2pm.
2. Make a Fill Em Up Bag! Kids decorate their bags and ask friends and family to help fill it. The goal is to collect $25, which will provide breakfast and lunch to a child for a whole month. This is a great opportunity for kids to understand the of community service and value of helping others!

Spoon Platoon Reception

ONT was thrilled to be able celebrate our top donors and supporters at the annual Spoon Platoon Reception on April 24. We added new engraved spoons to our living sculpture by local artists Ryan Kelley and Stephen Martin and celebrated returning donors who continue to give $1,000 and over annually.

Volunteer Spotlight

ONT could not run without volunteers, both in our programs and in the office! This month's volunteer spotlight highlights Rose Sheehan, one of our valued office volunteers who helps keep things running smoothly at the reception desk. Rose is taking a gap year after graduating from Pinegree Academy last spring. Thank you to all our outstanding office volunteers for all that they do! Interested in volunteering in the office? Contact Alice or fill out a volunteer application today!

Thanks to all who helped Fill Your Neighbor's Plate!

Thank you to all of the restaurants who offered their guests the opportunity to donate a virtual meal to ONT. Over $5,000 was raised to fill your neighbors' plates!

Our March campaign might be over, but Loretta is offering the virtual meal donation the first Tuesday of every month and will also be donating 15% of their proceeds to ONT.

Bring our Table to YOUR Table!

The Table to Table campaign is a great opportunity for you to open your home to friends and family to raise awareness of and funds to support ONT's food assistance programs. Now in it's second year, Table to Table has raised over $25,000 since it's inception. You could host anything from a small dinner party to a BBQ for 50. If you're interested in hosting to help put more food on the tables of your neighbors, contact Lesley today!

Upcoming at ONT - Mark Your Calendars!

Men Fighting Hunger:
Enjoy great beer, great food and great music at Brewery Silvaticus on June 24. The VIP Grill Master's Challenge participants will get private chef instruction. Get your tickets today - a great Father's Day gift!

Run Out Hunger:
We know how much you love ONT. Let that passion fuel you across the finish line of the Newburyport Half Marathon and put 500 meals on the table for a neighbor in need! Whether it's your first or your tenth half marathon, we can help you succeed! Join the Run Out Hunger Team today!

Ultimate Sports Raffle:
The Ultimate Sports Raffle is live! Only 150 tickets will be sold for a chance to win 2nd row 50 yard line Patriots tickets. Winner pulled at Men Fighting Hunger on June 24.

Interested in serving the Wednesday Meal or volunteering with your group in the market? Dates are being booked now, secure yours today! Check out our 2018 sponsorship opportunities for more details.

Save the date for the Volunteer Appreciation Block Party:
Tuesday, June 12, 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Volunteer Spotlight - Office Volunteer Rose Sheehan

4/30/2018

Rose Sheehan volunteers primarily in the Our Neighbors’ Table office, though she says with a smile she will always help “wherever I’m needed.” Rose joined the ONT volunteer corps a few months ago after reading about ONT online and hearing good reviews from friends. Rose is 18 and currently taking a gap year after graduating from Pingree Academy. “I have a lot of free time right now,” said Rose, “I’m figuring myself out and am happy to have the opportunity to give back to my community.”

Rose’s first day volunteering with ONT left a lasting impression on her. She was helping in the market as a Customer Service Representative and one of the first guests to come in have her a big hug. After that she was hooked! Rose previously volunteered with the Food Project, working at farmers’ markets and social and food justice workshops, and is currently involved with the Newburyport Literary Festival. During her time volunteering in the ONT office, Rose has learned administrative skills and has gained insight into non-profit work which may inform her future career choices. We are grateful for Rose’s help at ONT!

WEE Can Help!!!

2/6/2018

Our Neighbors' Table is a place where the whole family can get involved in the fight against hunger in our community.
Some of our most inspiring supporters are our littlest ones. Children come to our doors with food or toothpaste they've collected for neighbors; with checks made out to ONT they've requested from family members instead of birthday gifts; or with their fellow scouts eager to learn about how they can help their community.

Carl and his son stock ONT's market shelves in the WEE Can Help program

The ONT WEE Can Help! program offers special shifts tailored for volunteers ages 5-7 years, accompanied by their favorite adult. WEE Can Help volunteers perform the important task of stocking our Market shelves after it closes on Wednesdays. It's a great opportunity to learn counting, reading labels, grouping, and a sense of helping others. WEE Can Help is also a great chance for parents to teach their children through their own volunteerism.

Shifts are limited to ensure the best experience for every volunteer. All accompanying adults are required to complete a volunteer application and attend a volunteer orientation prior to registering for WEE Can Help shifts. For more details, feel free to email Alice or call her at 978-388-1907 x15.

Table Talk, January 2018: New Hope for a New Year

1/26/2018

2017: 1 Million Meals, More than 3,400 Neighbors Served!
What a year! And it didn't just happen by chance. More than 600 volunteers dedicated more than 28,000 hours of service and thousands of you contributed more than $840,000 in funds and $558,000 in food and toiletries to ensure our doors opened every day and our neighbors were welcomed and served all year long.
Thank you to every single one of YOU! We have high hopes for the year ahead and the potential to serve even more neighbors in 2018. Watch for our official 2017 annual report that will publish in early March. In the meantime, stay involved, come visit us, and help us spread the word about food insecurity in our community. Lyndsey Haight
Executive Director

You've made a real difference for these neighbors...

WEE Can Help!!!
ONT is a place where the whole family can get involved. Now, ONT offers some special opportunities for some of our youngest supporters. WEE Can Help! is a volunteer program for children aged 5-7 years. We have bi-weekly shifts reserved just for this eager age group to help us stock our market along with their parents, grandparents, or their favorite adult.

Adults are required to complete a volunteer orientation prior to registering for a volunteer shift. Complete your volunteer application and get started today!

How Can You Get Involved in 2018?
Every week, we register new neighbors and families who come to us for help. We expect to serve more than 3,500 people this year. But we can't do it without YOU.

Join the Run Out Hunger Team!
Do you love Our Neighbors’ Table? Have you made fitness part of your new year’s resolution? Now you can combine the two and really make a difference for your neighbors. ONT is partnering with Green Stride again this year to host ONT’s Run Out Hunger Team at the Earth Rock Run and the Newburyport Half Marathons. We are so excited to announce Studio 5 is also joining our team! Boston marathon veteran Jess Bailey and Studio 5 owner Lindsay Zappala are lending their training expertise to get you across the finish line! Join us today!

Become a Sustaining Donor!
More than 400 households shop in our Market and ore than 100 guests come to eat at our Wednesday Meal each week! Don't wait until next December, set up your monthly or quarterly installments and know you're taking care of your neighbors today!

Volunteer!
Contributing nearly 600 hours of service EVERY WEEK, volunteers are the backbone of ONT’s programs.
Become a sustaining donor! Whether you are 1 person or a group, whether you can give 3 hours a year or 3 hours a month, WE WANT YOU! Complete your volunteer application now!

Help us Raise Awareness!
The first step in solving a problem is becoming aware that the problem exists. Hunger in our community is still a hidden problem. People struggling to put food on their tables still hide in shame. Even when it’s a close friend or neighbor, many of us are still unaware of how many people are fighting hunger in our schools, our churches, our local businesses. But YOU can help change that! Spread the word and help people understand that even one simple act can make a difference.

Host a food drive – not only are you collecting valuable food donations for us to give to neighbors in need, you are also raising awareness of the issue among your friends, co-workers, parish members.
Sponsor a Wednesday Meal, Market Day, or our special events – There’s no better way to get friends, employees, or even customers, to experience first-hand the impact of your involvement.

Check our 2018 calendar and be sure to follow us on facebook, twitter and instagram!

A Child's Christmas Wish

12/13/2017

Tonight, Santa will make his annual visit to the Our Neighbors' Table Wednesday meal. Each year, he comes to dinner to visit with our guests, young and old. Children get dressed in their frilly dresses and bows and sweaters and ties. And the excitement bursts from their faces the moment they see his jolly face.
This is a special time of year, when cheer and gratitude fill the air. I’d like to share a favorite story about a very special gift we received at a previous Santa visit. Some of you may have heard this story before, but it is worth retelling as it captures the true essence of the season of giving.
On this particular night, the crowd had gathered as usual to see Santa Claus - many familiar faces sprinkled with new families coming for the first time. As I was greeting and lining children up for their photos, a woman dressed festively in an elf hat and holiday sweater pulled me aside. "My son has something he wants to say to you," she said.
I knew this woman, we'll call her "Lynn", and her son "Steven". Lynn is a single mother with two young boys. She works as an assistant manager in a fast food restaurant. Her mother, who also struggles financially, provides help with the boys when she can. The family shops weekly at our market and is especially grateful for the extra food that comes with the Summer Lunch Program.
So back to the Christmas dinner. I bent over so I could hear Steven" as he stands closely to his mother, looking bashfully at the floor – his voice so soft and hard to hear in the crowd.
"Hi, Steven. Merry Christmas!" I say.
Steven slowly looks up at me with his big brown eyes and barely whispers "Merry Christmas" as he holds out his hand. As I look down, I see a crisp $10 bill folded neatly in his fingers. And he is handing that $10 to ME!
Surprised and a bit confused, I ask Steven “What’s this?”
"I had a birthday and I got this birthday money."
"And you're giving it to us?" I asked. "Why?"
Steven looked at me with a shy smile and replied, "So you can help families who come to Our Neighbors' Table."
My heart nearly burst! I couldn't help but wrap my arms around him and give him a big squeeze. Steven, his mother and grandmother continue to come to dinner at ONT and use the market when things get tight. Steven has grown since his birthday donation, his shoulders getting broader, his face taking on the strong jawlines of a young man. His voice is strong, no longer a whisper. He talks about football and his favorite cars.
This holiday season, if you were thinking of giving, but wondered what an impact your gift would have, think of Steven and his family. Every day they struggle. But for Steven, the meals he gets at Our Neighbors’ Table have already given him hope. Steven knows, even on his tough days, that he has the power to make life a little better for someone else. His is the kind of gift that keeps on giving.
Today, in our community, 1 out of 8 children lives in a food insecure household, uncertain if they will get their next meal. We have the power to fix that, and, with the community’s support, with YOUR help, Our Neighbors’ Table can ensure no child in our community has to go hungry.
This year, ONT will put more than 1 million meals on the table for families like Lynn and Steven, that’s twice as many as we distributed last year. Every $1 you give equals 1 meal!
Happy Holidays to you and yours from all of the families here at Our Neighbors' Table!

Warm wishes,
Lyndsey Haight
Executive Director

Steven's compassion is an example to us all. Will you join him in helping a family who needs help? Give the gift that keeps on giving.

Thanksgiving Week Food Availability

11/20/2017

The Market at Our Neighbors' Table will not be open the week of Thanksgiving (Nov. 20 - 25). The ONT office is open 9am - 4pm on Tuesday and 9am - 12pm on Wednesday. The office and the Market will both be closed for the holiday Nov. 23 - Nov. 26.

There will be a Wednesday Meal at Main Street Congregation Church on Nov. 22. Chicken broccoli ziti will be served from 4pm - 6pm.

If you are seeking food this week, the following organizations are available at the following times.

Amesbury Community Action: Tuesday, Nov. 21 from 9am - 3:30pm.
Pettengill House (Salisbury): Tuesday, Nov. 21 from 9am - 2pm and 4pm - 6pm
Salvation Army (Newburyport): Wednesday, Nov. 22 from 1pm - 4pm
Newburyport Lions Club: Thanksgiving Dinner on Thursday, Nov. 23 at 12pm at the Newburyport Senior Center (331 High Street, Newburyport).
First Parish Church (Newbury): Food Pantry open Friday from 3pm - 5pm