After several months of uncertainty, we’re excited that the $100,000 earmark grant from the state government will be available after all. This was obtained through the office of State Senator Jo Comerford, a champion of both the local food system and anti-hunger/anti-poverty efforts in our part of the state. We’re deeply grateful to Sen. Comerford and her staff for making this happen, and eager to put the money to work in this moment of heightened need for food assistance.
We plan to work with Quabbin Harvest Food Co-op, the Athol-Royalston Regional School District’s Family and Community Center, Valuing Our Children, and other current and perhaps new partners to restart our Protein Bundles for Healthy Eating program as soon as we can. We have some additional funds that we’ll be combining with the earmark and we’re hopeful that we can keep this iteration of the program going for at least a year, probably more.
