2020 was a year unlike any other– the global pandemic led us to change our programs in order to provide food for more families than ever.
–The Morning Meal Program serves a hot breakfast to anyone in need and prepares pre-made meals to those who can’t cook for themselves or need immediate hunger relief. This program, along with the COVID-19 Emergency Meal Delivery Program, served and delivered 62,000 meals to our community last year.
–The Homebound Delivery Program increased the number of at-risk households served from 150 to 200 a month, delivering a thoughtfully prepared grocery box that accommodates each recipient’s dietary needs.
–The Food Shelf remains open five days a week while adopting major changes to the way that food is distributed to make it as safe as possible for our community – we provide curbside pick-up of pre-packaged boxes with fresh meat, produce and perishable goods along with a bag of nonperishable, shelf-stable items to help get people through these uncertain times without needing to worry about how they will put food on the table. Last year this program distributed over 2 million pounds of food to around 11,000 individuals from nearly 6,000 different households.
–The Community Kitchen Academy continues to train individuals in food service work while preparing meals to distribute to the community. During our peak COVID-19 response phase the Community Kitchen Academy shifted from a training program to a meal preparation program, the COVID-19 Emergency Meal Delivery Program, which prepared and delivered meals to at-risk Vermonters being temporarily housed by the state in area hotels and motels.
We are so grateful for the support we received in 2020. We will work hard to make food more accessible to our neighbors in this new year, because no matter what is going on in the world, food is Essential.