Franklin Food Pantry Welcomes Spoonfuls for Educational Presentation

The Franklin Food Pantry, which provides supplemental food assistance to more than 1,800 individuals each year, welcomed Liz Miller, Senior Community Relations Manager of Spoonfuls, a food recovery organization, on Thursday, September 12, 2024, to present “Wasted Food, Hunger, and the Climate Emergency: How Food Recovery Helps.”  

The free, educational event brought attention to food waste and its impact on food insecurity and climate change and emphasized The Pantry’s commitment to educating the community and finding innovative and sustainable methods to fight hunger. Members of the community, including high-school students, businesses, and social service agencies attended the event which was hosted by the Food Justice Team at the First Universalist Society in Franklin.

(L-R) Liz Miller & Tina Powderly

The event coincided with Hunger Action Month, a nationwide campaign to raise hunger awareness during the month of September, and the release of The Pantry’s 2024-2027 Strategic Plan which guides growth to ensure The Pantry remains a sustainable source of support for the community. Providing opportunities to learn about food recovery emphasizes top priorities in the Strategic Plan— people, engagement, advocacy, and sustainability—and gives individuals and groups tangible ideas to take action.

“The Pantry is empowering the community by providing knowledge and actionable steps to fight food insecurity,” said Tina Powderly, Executive Director, Franklin Food Pantry. “By sharing information and working with Spoonfuls, The Pantry is demonstrating our commitment to reducing food waste, serving as responsible stewards of environmental resources, and influencing long term changes that improve outcomes for those we serve.”

The amount of food The Pantry receives from Spoonfuls has multiplied over the past two years. In 2022, The Pantry received 100 pounds of food from Spoonfuls each week. In 2023, deliveries steadily increased, and now stands at 2,000 pounds each week. The increase is due in part to The Pantry’s new location and ability to accept more food, but also is a deliberate response to the increasing need for food assistance and leveraging food suppliers who are utilizing sustainable solutions to reduce food waste.

"Spoonfuls is grateful for our partnership with the Franklin Food Pantry, one of the valued food programs we work with across Massachusetts to get good food to people who need it now,” said Liz Miller, Senior Communications Manager, Spoonfuls. “Our work in the Metrowest and across the regions where we work means we are recovering millions of pounds of food each year and ensuring that that food is being used for its highest and best purpose, to feed people."

To receive alerts and information on additional educational opportunities and fighting food insecurity, please sign up for The Pantry’s newsletters.

About the Franklin Food Pantry, Inc.

The Franklin Food Pantry, Inc. offers supplemental food assistance, household necessities, and resource referral programs to more than 1,800 individuals per year. The Pantry relies on donations and grants to purchase items and pay for daily operations, and partnerships with The Greater Boston Food Bank, Spoonfuls, and local grocery stores to achieve greater buying power and lower costs. 

Programs include In-person Shopping, Curbside Pick-up, Emergency Food Bags, Mobile Pantries, Home Delivery, Kids’ Snack Bags, Weekend Backpacks, Holiday Meal Kits, and the SNAP match at Franklin Farmers Market. 

The Pantry is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in good standing in Massachusetts, recognized by Charity Navigator as a Four-Star Charity, and awarded GuideStar’s Platinum Transparency ranking. The Pantry is located at 341 W. Central St. in Franklin, MA on Route 140. Please visit www.franklinfoodpantry.org for more information.

About Spoonfuls

Through food recovery and distribution, education, and advocacy, Spoonfuls works to address the health, environmental, and economic impact that wasted food has on people and the planet. To date, the organization has prevented 35 million pounds of good food from going to waste. Learn more at spoonfuls.org.

Listen to Tina & Liz talk about how food recovery helps the Franklin Food Pantry clients and climate (audio)

FM #1277 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 1277 in the series. 

This session of the radio show shares my conversation with Tina Powderly, Executive Director of the Franklin Food Pantry and Liz Miller, Community Coordinator of Spoonfuls.org. 

We spend time in this episode talking about September as Hunger Action Month, and how The Pantry partnership with Spoonfuls is helping to drive awareness around food recovery. Food recovery provides healthy, fresh foods for The Pantry clients and removes the recovered food from the landfill environment, a key climate goal. We had our conversation in the new location of the Franklin Food Pantry at Edwin’s. 

Listen to our conversation to find 

• How The Pantry receives 2 shipment of 1,000 pounds each per week

• How confusion about date labeling adds about 7% to the food waste 

• How food waste costs a typical family of about $1,500, yes more than $100/month

The recording runs about 37 minutes, so let’s listen to my conversation with Tina and Liz. Audio link -> https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-1277-franklin-food-pantry-hunger-action-month-09-05-24/

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Participate in the event Thursday, Sept 12, 2024 at the First Universalist Society of Franklin, a joint presentation by The Pantry and Spoonfuls. Free but registration recommended to confirm capacity requirements https://www.franklinfoodpantry.org/hungeractionmonth/ 

For more about Spoonfuls, visit their page  https://spoonfuls.org/ 

Liz Miller’s LinkedIN profile -> https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethmonizmiller/

Tina Powderly’s LinkedIN profile -> https://www.linkedin.com/in/tina-tavares-powderly-78a81131/ 

YouTube video of WGBH segment 10 years ago -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqSBXwnX8Gc 

Spoonful’s founder Liz Stanley’s TEDxRVA talk -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O_KDxJV3Ow 

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We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm). 

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.

 

How can you help?

• If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors

• If you don't like something here, please let me know

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.

 

For additional information, please visit www.franklin.news or www.Franklinmatters.org/ 

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana"  c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.

I hope you enjoy!

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Listen to Tina & Liz talk about how food recovery helps the Franklin Food Pantry clients and climate (audio)

September is Hunger Action Month

September is Hunger Action Month, a nationwide effort to raise awareness about hunger and inspire action. Here at The Pantry, we are inspired every day by our clients and strive to provide an compassionate, dignified experience where they feel welcomed and heard. In fact, as part of our yearlong grant-funded strategic planning process, we recently surveyed clients to gain insight into their experience at The Pantry.  

We are very proud that our online survey, sent to 377 clients, was the first multilingual client survey in The Pantry’s history. Survey questions were both quantitative and qualitative and feedback was anonymous.  

Below are some key results from the survey: 

• 93% of clients say we meet their needs very well or better 
• 91% of clients shop twice a month or more  
• 74% of clients said that The Pantry is their main source of food  
• 80% of clients rely on us mostly for meat and produce  
• 73% of clients prefer non weekend hours 
• 55% of clients need more help connecting with other community resources  
• Inside shopping with appointment is the preferred shopping method  

Hunger Action Month

These results are being used to shape our programing and enhance our services. To date, we have implemented electronic appointment reminders and expanded the number of in-person shopping appointments. 

We are collaborating with and identifying additional partners to provide more dairy, proteins, prepared foods, and healthy produce. We are extremely grateful to our clients for their thoughtful suggestions and will continue to use their invaluable feedback to guide our future decisions. 

Continuing to improve our services is important to The Pantry’s mission of alleviating food insecurity and compassionately empowering our community. This Hunger Action Month, we invite you to help us meet our clients’ needs by making a monetary donation to The Pantry, or learning more about food waste and its impact on food insecurity at our special event with Spoonfuls, a food rescue organization, on September 12, 2024, at 7 PM. 

We hope that sharing our clients’ feedback will inspire you to act and help fight food insecurity in Franklin and beyond. 

With sincere gratitude for your ongoing support,  

Tina Powderly,  

Executive Director, Franklin Food Pantry 

For more information about the Franklin Food Pantry, visit   https://www.franklinfoodpantry.org/

Franklin Food Pantry to Take Part in Hunger Action Month®

September is Hunger Action Month®, and the Franklin Food Pantry is joining Feeding America and a nationwide network of food pantries to raise awareness and inspire the public to act on behalf of people experiencing hunger. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 34 million people, including 9 million children, in the United States are food insecure. 

The Town of Franklin and the surrounding community are not immune to food insecurity with The Pantry providing more than 1,300 individuals with supplemental food assistance and services. As a private, non- profit organization, The Pantry relies on the generosity of donors and volunteers, offering community groups and individuals many opportunities to become involved in the fight against hunger.

“Over the past two years, the Franklin Food Pantry has experienced a sharp increase in the need for supplemental food assistance,” said Tina Powderly, Executive Director, Franklin Food Pantry. “Hunger Action Month calls on our community to join the fight on hunger, restock our shelves, and make sure everyone in our community has access to nutritious food and services.”

Individuals and groups can take action against hunger by participating in the following:

• Organize a food or fund drive

• Donate funds, food, or other pantry needs to the Franklin Food Pantry

• Learn about the impact hunger has on Franklin and Norfolk County

• Volunteer at the Franklin Food Pantry

• Write to local elected officials and urge them to fight hunger

• Wear orange on Hunger Action Day (Friday, September 23, 2023) to spread awareness and show commitment toward ending hunger

• Join the conversation by posting photos or stories to social media with #HungerActionMonth For more information on Hunger Action Month visit HungerActionMonth.org.

About the Franklin Food Pantry, Inc.

The Franklin Food Pantry, Inc. offers supplemental food assistance and household necessities to more than 1,300 individuals per year. The Franklin Food Pantry is not funded by the Town of Franklin. We are grateful for our many partnerships, including that with the Greater Boston Food Bank, that allow us to achieve greater buying power and lower our costs. Donations and grants fund our food purchases, keep our lights on, and put gas in our food truck. 

Programs include home delivery, a weekend backpack program for Franklin school children in need, mobile pantries, emergency food bags, and holiday meal packages. The Pantry is located at 341 W. Central St. in Franklin, Massachusetts on Route 140. Visit www.franklinfoodpantry.org for more information.

September is Hunger Action Month