The Food Drive

10/19/2026

We're thrilled to announce our 2026 Harvest Heroes: Brian, Jennifer, Katelyn, & Aidan Manning. Huge thanks to the Melrose Weekly News for publishing this wonderful article written by our board member Kate House. Our Harvest Fall Fundraiser 2026 is Saturday, November 14 at 6:00 PM at Memorial Hall in Melrose. Join us! Click: https://www.thefooddrive.org/harvest-2026

10/19/2026

"Why do 48 million Americans, including 14 million children, lack consistent access to affordable nutritious food in the wealthiest country in the world?" This episode interviews The Wall Street Journal journalist, Roger Thurow, about his book: "Abiding Hunger: An American Paradox."

10/18/2026

Shoutout to all the local volunteers who so generously donate to our Community Freezer! This morning we provided 145 lovingly made meals like these to our guests, and this is a direct result of the time and energy of cooks like Brenda Merken, Tina DeSelm, Despina Makredes, and our own team of Jana & Tony Gimenez.

10/17/2026

Big thanks to the volunteers at the Horace Mann Pumpkin Festival for donating the extra treats from their fabulous annual bake sale for our Community Freezer! That's COMMUNITY!

10/17/2026

Shoutout to our volunteer Tracy Hatfield for delivering treats to the Levi Gould & Fuller House complex in Melrose the past couple of Thursdays! Did you know that we have over 150 INCREDIBLE VOLUNTEERS like Tracy? We're grateful every day.

10/15/2026

LAST CALL to add your name to our annual (much loved!) reusable grocery bag for our Harvest Fall Fundraiser 2026. The bag is used throughout the year for our Community Freezer program, the Melrose Farmers' Market, and food rescues! Sponsors at our Clove level and up are included on the bag, and the deadline is TODAY, Thursday, October 15. Click here to sign up: https://www.thefooddrive.org/harvest-2026

10/15/2026

"The new federal law pushes people off SNAP by combining stricter eligibility barriers with a heavier administrative burden on state agencies. An estimated 99,000 Massachusetts residents, including working parents, homeless individuals, veterans, former foster care youth, and older adults, may lose SNAP benefits due to increasingly burdensome work requirement criteria."

This report identifies five factors that indicate a community’s likelihood to need food support and to be harmed if that support is interrupted. This culminates in a vulnerability score. 40 municipalities are highly vulnerable to food access cuts, and they are located across the Commonwealth.

10/15/2026

We were thrilled to welcome Green Muse Farm as a food rescue donor at the Melrose Farmers' Market this season! What a gift to deliver fresh beautiful herbs for the tables of our neighbors.

10/13/2026

Shoutout to Drew and Andrew McNeilly for rescuing from Shaw's Supermarket Melrose this weekend! They delivered to the Insight Recovery Homes in Melrose and The MacDonald House in Stoneham. Filling the plates of our neighbors instead of landfills!

10/13/2026

“People can’t get through the phone line to get help at the Department of Transition Assistance. The big concern with the funding cut is the lack of caseworkers at DTA, leading to dropped calls and people in need never getting through to someone for help, even just to apply for programs like SNAP."

New federal rules are changing who qualifies for food assistance in Massachusetts, and food banks say they’re seeing the impact.