Looking Back at 2021

Dear Friends,

The pandemic of 2020 saw Open Table evolve from a hands-on, community-oriented organization to a safer but more transactional operation. In 2021, we reevaluated our distribution model and worked to bring it more in line with our values of being a food relief organization that welcomes everyone and treats people with dignity and respect. We asked: How do we offer client choice while also keeping people safe? And how do we reach out to the 30-40% of food insecure people who aren’t currently accessing our services?

We began by moving our services from the parking lot back into the building, thus keeping staff, clients, and food safe from the elements. Then, our staff developed an online and phone-in ordering system, allowing clients to choose their groceries ahead of time. Not only could they get items they would actually use, it meant less wasted food for us. This “custom ordering system” is now being used by 60% of our Fresh Air clients. We are proud to be able to give people who may be struggling elsewhere a sense of control over this aspect of their lives, despite the extra time and effort on the part of Open Table. (https://foodbanknews.org/?s=instacart)

Next, we evaluated our programs, collecting stories from clients to better understand their needs, and we completed our Strategic Plan. From our clients, we learned that fresh produce and our in-house line of prepared meals are high priorities, as well as access to them where they live versus needing to come to us. Meanwhile, Phase 1 of our Strategic Plan is about developing partnerships that will help us reach underserved communities in our area.

To those ends, we have built new and enhanced mobile partnerships, moving our Concord mobile program to Carlisle where transportation has been a challenge. We have increased our mobile pantry deliveries in Hudson to twice a month to accommodate the Brazilian community of essential workers there. And we began providing our prepared meals to multiple Councils on Aging and food relief organizations, taking food to where it’s needed most. Realizing the importance of prepared meals to busy families or as a substitute to community dinners for aging adults hit home with many of our partners. Additionally, in recent months we have partnered with others to help resettle Afghan people now living in Massachusetts with both culturally relevant groceries and meals. We feel fortunate to have developed new partnerships with IINE (International Institute of New England) and Kataluma as well as many other existing partners who are engaged in this important resettlement work.

This year, we went from serving 17,000 meals a year to over 47,000 with the help of many generous donors and funders. The commercial grade equipment, expert advice in staffing and operational changes, and the upgraded technology to support this effort have made the difference in providing healthy well-balanced prepared meals to more people at a time when this is more critical than ever.

All of these changes have impacted our staffing needs. The past summer saw us implement our first high school internship program, welcoming over 50 students from various towns in our area. This young crew brought cultural diversity, language skills, and fantastic energy, tackling the additional work of our Kids Summer Meals program and the “Ethical Storytelling Launch” as well as covering the usual dip in volunteers due to summer vacations. We could not have launched this program without the critical assistance of our Commonwealth Service Corps intern, Scarlett Cheung, and our Summer Internship Coordinator, Matt Baird. These two incredible young adults enabled us to evaluate our programs and conduct the research needed for our strategic plans. Both have now moved on, their legacy being our commitment to hiring interns
at Open Table.

Overall, the challenges of 2021 have pushed us to make significant and positive changes. We diversified our programming in order to offer food that reflects the needs of our clients and also transport it to where it reaches those most gravely impacted by the pandemic. We acted safely, efficiently, and justly in how we proceed to make changes and improvements. Every step of the way, we invited our community to come along with us. We offered our clients the opportunity to tell us their stories. We evaluated our programs through surveys and interviews. We held a virtual book group (Reinventing Food Banks and Pantries: New Tools for Ending Hunger) so we could engage in meaningful dialogue about what success looks like for a food relief organization. We came to realize that pounds of food and numbers of people served do not measure success. Rather, offering a pathway out of poverty and making sure that our services are more comprehensive are the true marks of success.

As we look to the coming year, we will continue to ask: Where is the greatest gap in food relief and how do we best address it? This partnership model of providing food to organizations that have a direct relationship to people in need will continue to chart a path for Open Table. Next year, we hope to acquire sufficient space so that we can once again offer our clients an in-person shopping experience while simultaneously maintaining our on-line ordering program. For now, I am content in knowing that we are doing all that we can to provide healthy food to those in need while ensuring the food sovereignty of our clients. Thank you for all that you have done as
a volunteer, as a donor, or as a community partner to help us in 2021!

Sincerely,

Jeanine Calabria
Executive Director, Open Table