We are very excited to announce our the return of our Family-to-Family Holiday Drive!
This year we again invite you to create a holiday gift bag for either a local family or a senior who may be struggling this year. Many past donors have said, “Thank you! This is the most meaningful activity my family does during the holidays!” With demand for our services up significantly Open Table needs more participants to ensure that each of our clients receives a gift bag.
You will be provided with a list of suggested items to fill a gift bag. And we will send reminders and other information each of the first 12 days of December. When purchasing items such as mittens for a family, please provide 2 adult-sized items and 2 child-sized items; one-size-fits most and unisex colors are recommended. Please leave all items unwrapped; this will allow us to more easily give the bag to an appropriate individual or family.
Gift bags will be collected in Maynard on Friday, December 16, 2-6pm and at Crosby’s Market in Concord on Saturday, December 17, 10am-1pm. Clients will receive gift bags with the final food distribution of 2022.
Thank you for considering this opportunity to make the holidays more meaningful not only for the families who rely on Open Table, but for your family, too.
If you have any questions about this program, please contact the coordinator, Carolyn, at ccoffin@opentable.org
Family-to-Family Registration
Sponsor a family or senior this holiday season by building a gift kit over the first 12 days of December. Each day that you add a new item, your family can discuss and learn more about food insecurity and how it may affect your neighbors. Follow us on social media or in your in-box to get information and reminders – or check back here!
Let's Get Started!
Take a moment with your family to discuss how food security impacts our community. While we used to call it “hunger”, “food insecurity” is a more accurate term. When a family is food insecure, their struggles may be invisible to us. Food insecurity means access to food is limited or uncertain, and they may not be able to afford high-quality, nutritious food. Open Table is committed to filling the gaps, so that people do not have to choose between eating healthy food and paying for other life expenses like housing and medicine. That’s why we are running this program – and why your participation makes a difference.
Collect a different themed item each day and add it to the gift bag. After 12 days, deliver the bag to Open Table or bring to one of our drop-off events. We’ll add more items to help our guests over the week that we are closed, and we’ll distribute the bags to families the week of December 21st. Together we will bring More Love, Less Hunger to our community!
Add your family’s favorite movie night snack to begin building your gift bag! And take a look at OpenTable staff and volunteers in action preparing for Thanksgiving 2022: HERE
Did you know? Open Table creates over 1000 fresh prepared meals each week for distribution to our clients. The average cost of each meal is up from $7.54 at this time last year to $8.60!
For a family game night we suggest a puzzle, board game or cards.
For a senior, word search Sudoku or crossword puzzles would be terrific!
Did you know? Many of our clients receive SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps. Many household necessities such as feminine products, cleaning supplies and diapers are not covered by SNAP. This gift card will allow the recipient to buy these items for their family.
Did you know? Open Table has seen a significant increase in demand for its services in the first 4 months of our fiscal year compared to last. We have distributed 43% more food in pounds year over year!
Many with fixed or low incomes have to choose between purchasing healthy food and medicine or personal care items, such as moisturizer, hand sanitizer, or even toothpaste and shampoo. Think about what items you would buy if you had to make that sort of choice.
Did you know? Open Table has provided assistance to 27% more households compared to last year?
Did you know? Across the board, “food at home” prices climbed 13.5 percent from August 2021 to August 2022, the biggest annual hike in more than four decades, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ consumer price index. A number of supply-chain factors have contributed to this sticker shock, including the war in Ukraine, high diesel fuel prices, and labor shortages.
How do 2019 grocery receipts compare with food cost today? Here’s what we found:
Wondering about sizes and styles? For families, include two adult and two child sizes (age 5 to young teen are most useful). Gender-neutral patterns and styles are best. But have fun with picking out gifts and the recipients will be sure to have fun receiving them! Remember to keep all of the gifts unwrapped so that we can distribute them to the appropriate family or senior.
Here’s the Greater Boston Food Bank report on food insecurity in our area: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/03/27/business/everything-costs-more-people-cant-keep-up/?s_campaign=8315
Did you know? Open Table’s clients are your neighbors, classmates, co-workers and friends. You would not know that a client of Open Table was experiencing food insecurity if you saw them at your school, house of worship, place of business or on the sidewalk in your neighborhood.