This moment of need

Ways to help and get help

Responding in a moment of need

Our hearts are with our neighbors facing cuts to their food assistance benefits this month. Here's what we're doing in response:

• We're continuing to take applications for the Healthy Incentives Program. Apply online or in the store by Nov 15 to receive biweekly fruit or vegetable shares in December. Make sure to leave some balance in your EBT account in order to acccess this benefit! As little as one cent will do it. (We're not sure what a long-term SNAP disruption would mean for HIP but we can at least keep things going through December.)
• The one and only Nalini Goordial will be offering hot homemade soup on a pay-what-you-can basis every Friday in November from 4-7 pm. If you can't pay anything, that's fine! Pints and quarts available to take home.
• November's Harvest Reward is a $2 coupon that you can either use yourself or leave in the "Pay it Forward" basket to help someone else out.
• Katie's planning a pay-what-you-can take-home Thanksgiving special from our kitchen for later in the month. Stay tuned for details on that!
• Our Community Potluck at 5:30 on Nov 14 at the First Universalist Church is open to all, even (or especially) those who aren't able to bring a dish to share. We'll have lots of food.
• We recently heard that our partner organization Quabbin Food Connector has received the state earmark grant that was on hold, so we should be able to re-start our "Protein Bundles for Healthy Eating" program before the end of the year. It operates through various community organizations including the Athol-Royalston Regional School District's Family and Community Center and Valuing Our Children, whose program participants receive distributions of food via the co-op.
• And there's a list of pantries and other resources posted on our front door for anyone who's looking for help.

Other things you can do:

• Donate to local food pantries and programs. Donations of food are good, and financial donations often go even farther, since these organizations are often able to tap into large-scale sources of food in bulk. Even small amounts of money can help!
• Franklin County Community Meals Program runs the food pantry in Orange, which they're hoping to re-open very soon. They're looking for volunteers to help get the site ready on Wed, Nov 5 starting at 10. And they'll be accepting food donations from 10:30-1 that day too. Follow them on Facebook for updates.

Posted: to News on Thu, Nov 6, 2025
Updated: Thu, Nov 6, 2025