Bedford Food Bank Continues to Serve Everyone Who Needs Assistance

July 26, 2021

What is meant by the term “food insecurity”?

Heidi Porter, director of Bedford’s Health and Human Services Department, said one national agency defines insecurity as “a lack of consistent access to enough food for every person in a household to live an active, healthy life. This can be temporary, or an enduring situation.”

But not in Bedford, right?

Yes, even in Bedford, where Porter said her department’s food bank is available to all households that need access to “no-cost, nutritious food, and household supplies.”

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The Bedford Food Bank, begun as a response to the pandemic by town government, offers a drive-through program every Thursday from 4-5:30 p.m. in the rear parking lot of Town Center, 12 Mudge Way (the yellow building behind Town Hall).  Other details are at https://www.bedfordma.gov/BedfordFoodBank.

The program today serves close to 100 households (250 people) per week through its drive-through food bank and home delivery. “Each week, residents receive 35-40 pounds of pantry staples, including dairy products, eggs, meat, and fresh produce, along with household supplies, diapers, and feminine-care products,” Porter said.

“There is no cost, no preregistration is required, and no identifying information is collected,” she continued. “We also offer a limited delivery program for those for whom transportation or schedule is prohibitive,” and her office “is available to help residents access home delivery, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, or other services as needed.”

The department’s social workers are the best contacts for information and help: Chris Bang at 781-275-7727 or, for persons over age 60, Danika Castle at 781-275-6825.

“Food insecurity can have a wide impact, depending on each individual’s circumstances,” Porter pointed out. Some common effects she mentioned are health complications, impact on a child’s ability to learn and grow, and difficult decisions for seniors, such as choosing between paying for food and critical health care.

The history of the department’s food program is intertwined with the local pandemic story, as outlined by Porter in a lengthy report to residents this week.

As the virus changed normal life in March 2020, “town staff met daily to strategize on the response, how to mitigate risk to our community and ways in which we could best serve the needs of all members of our population,” she recounted.

They realized that “with school not in session, the temporary closure of the community table/pantry, limited hours of grocery store operation, and an overall discomfort with being around others, staff had to come up with a plan for providing supplemental food to the community—particularly those already experiencing food insecurity.”

Thus the Bedford Food Bank was established, with the first drive-through distribution at John Glenn Middle School on March 20, 2020. The two town social workers and a cadre of volunteers also delivered food to homebound residents, while Akil Mondesir, Bedford’s METCO director, brought food to families of Bedford students enrolled through the METCO program.

The operation served 34 individuals that first week and the client numbers grew each week thereafter, Porter said. Meanwhile, “the Town of Bedford Emergency Relief Fund was established, to help coordinate fundraising and philanthropic efforts to provide essential services to residents whose health and well-being were most immediately impacted by the pandemic.”

The fund’s priorities, she said, are “to provide food through the Bedford Food Bank to the town’s families who are part of the free and reduced-price breakfast and lunch program, our vulnerable seniors and veterans, and families who are food insecure.”

Donation pages were set up for people to purchase specific items that were made available to food bank clients as well as anyone who contacted the social workers.

“We also provided regular outreach materials in the weekly food packages to our clients on the array of social service supports offered by our Health and Human Services Department, Porter said, noting that “personal hygiene items, feminine products, cleaning products, and pet food were additional household needs that, if provided, enabled our clients to focus their available resources on housing, transportation, and medical needs.”

The food bank was staffed by school and town employees from several departments — Youth and Family Services, Health, Fire and Police, as well as the town manager’s office and members of the volunteer Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).

By mid-summer 2020, the food bank was serving around 80 families (about 200 residents) a week. Porter related, “Throughout the spring and summer, we were in contact with the dedicated leadership of the long-standing Bedford Community Pantry to learn from their food distribution experience and how they could continue to contribute under the new and necessary model.”

Porter said the pantry leadership acknowledged that “the sheer volume of participants was beyond their current staffing and space capacity, but they graciously offered to contribute their monetary donations to the emergency fund, and they remain a resource and collaborator.”

The town and the community pantry (a 501© non-profit) worked together to establish a direct relationship with the Greater Boston Food Bank, consummated in September 2020. This enabled “direct access to free and low-cost healthy and nutritious food and personal items offered by that organization. This truly bolstered the sustainability of the food bank,” said Porter.

There were other partnerships, both new and expanded: Gaining Ground of Concord for fresh produce, the Acton Food Pantry for transportation services (food pick up from Boston), and food donations from Chip-In Farm and Flatbread Co., both of Bedford, and FoodLink of Arlington.

The food bank storage and distribution location was shifted to the Town Center in August 2020, as the middle school prepared for a return to classes.

The Greater Boston Food  Bank predicts that pandemic-level food insecurity will continue through 2025, Porter noted. “Layoffs, unexpected car maintenance, a medical expense, or other crisis may suddenly force a family to choose between buying food and paying bills.”

“Households across America, and here in Bedford, face situations that can result in food insecurity and hunger,” she said. “Therefore, many families and individuals rely on food banks to help make ends meet.”

She encouraged residents to look into volunteer opportunities at [email protected]. Volunteers must be at least age 15 and able to do some repetitive lifting, she said.

“Residents’ continued support of this valuable town service is appreciated and we thank our contributors and dedicated volunteers.” Porter declared. “We are grateful for the partnerships forged to enable the sustainability of the food bank, and invite anyone facing food insecurity to visit us on Thursday afternoons.”

Mike Rosenberg can be reached at [email protected], or 781-983-1763

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