Quabbin Food Connector

04/17/2026

We had a great time today at the second of our spring gatherings with partners and participants in the share programs based at Quabbin Harvest. Katie and Gaige showed us how to make the co-op’s signature kale salad and then we dug into the big bowl of salad and other good things. We had table discussions to plan our next gathering, and then we went outside in the lovely spring weather and Deb showed us how to make an easy little colander garden.

These gatherings are bringing people together to start developing new leadership and advocacy partners within our local food security and food justice work. We’re excited to be doing this with the state funding secured by our own Senator Jo Comerford, and with help from Quabbin Harvest, Valuing Our Children, ARRSD Family & Community Center, LaunchSpace, Quabbin House, and Seeds of Solidarity. And we were grateful to be able to hold today’s event at the beautiful community room of the Athol Public Library.

03/24/2026

We were thrilled to convene the first of our planned community-building events with partners and participants in the Protein Bundles for Healthy Eating program this past Monday. It was a great gathering with rich conversation and wonderful food (and mango lassi, mmmm!).

We'll hold a follow-up get-together in April and then see where things go from there. It's been fantastic to be distributing generous monthly bundles of protein-centered food with the funds from our state earmark through Senator Jo Comerford's office. But we don't want to stop there--we're working to build stronger conversations and connections around food security and food justice in the North Quabbin, along with these fantastic neighbors and friends! Cheers!

Valuing Our Children ARRSD Family & Community Center LaunchSpace Quabbin House Quabbin Harvest

01/24/2026

We held our Annual Meeting today in the upstairs room at Quabbin Harvest, followed by a gathering with four of our current community partners in the ongoing Protein Bundles for Healthy Eating program. We're excited to start planning for a new component of this project, which will bring together participants across different roles to share ideas and experiences (and food!) over the next few months.

ARRSD Family & Community Center LaunchSpace Valuing Our Children Seeds of Solidarity Quabbin House/Clinical & Support Options Inc.

01/10/2026

We're happy to be a partner in Quabbin Harvest's "Community Shares" programs!

One of our favorite moments of the year is to look back on the previous year's set of "Community Shares" programs and think about how much good food we were able to distribute to our neighbors through our various community partnerships, fundraising efforts, and our own resources of staffing, volunteers, and facilities.

Last year's total was down from the previous couple because of the cutbacks in the Healthy Incentives Program in the first part of the year and the delays in re-starting the Protein Bundles for Healthy Eating program. But still, an average of nearly 60 shares a week went out the door every week, y'all! That's pretty amazing.

This all takes a village, or maybe several villages (and a supportive state government). We're grateful to everyone who plays a role. We don't know of another small grocery store with this kind of very active and extensive food access program and we're proud to pursue this as a central part of our mission!

Friends of the Athol Council on Aging Orange Council on Aging
ARRSD Family & Community Center Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts CISA The Farm School GAAMHA, Inc. LaunchSpace Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance - DTA North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival Quabbin Food Connector Quabbin House (Clinical & Support Options Inc.) Seeds of Solidarity the office of Senator Jo Comerford Stone by Stone Farm, the Town of Orange Valuing Our Children

12/11/2025

12/10/2025

Things are already a bit breathless as we get ready for the relaunch of our Proteun Bundles for Healthy Eating program. We’re kicking it off this week and next with a special holiday distribution to 100 households served by our community partners at ARRSD Family & Community Center, Valuing Our Children, Quabbin House, and Launchspace, along with some participants in the Healthy Incentives Program at Quabbin Harvest.

We’re incredibly grateful to Senator Jo Comerford and her staff for obtaining an earmark grant from the state to enable this work, which benefits not only the recipients and the co-op but also the many local farms whose good food goes into these bundles. It’s truly a win-win-win!

As we get into the swing of things with the program over the next few months, we’re also planning for more community programming and leadership building rooted in food security and food justice. It’s going to be busy and we’re excited to get going!

11/06/2025

As we wrestle with so many big challenges and questions in the present moment, here's a beautiful set of "postcards from the edge" offered by two eloquent leaders at the Cooperative Fund of the Northeast.

"We believe in the power of self-determination, community ownership, and democratized capital to regenerate the soils of emerging economies once laid barren by capitalism."

We are on the edge of an economic revolution where local leaders in communities are laying the groundwork for a new solidarity economy.

07/23/2025

If misery (or at least disappointment) loves company, we're in good company! Civil Eats just published this list of 21 existing federal grants focused on environmental justice through a food and farming lens that have been canceled after they started. This is in addition to newer grants like our "Justice at the Community Table" that were selected but not able to start because the money appropriated by Congress is no longer there.

It's heartbreaking to look at this list of projects doing important work on community health and resilience. A lot of groups are scrambling, as we are, to try to keep things going in some form without the promised funds. Meanwhile, the climate disasters keep on happening. 😕

The Trump administration cut climate funding for nearly two dozen environmental, food, and farming grants.

07/15/2025

Help spread the word in our community! Fresh fruit and veggie shares are now available biweekly again at Quabbin Harvest through the state's Healthy Incentives Program. It's good news for eaters, farmers, and the local economy!

07/01/2025

Who's a Commonwealth Heroine? Pat Larson is a Commonwealth Heroine! This state award recognizes women who make good things happen in their communities, often behind the scenes doing the hard work of organizing, connecting, and persisting in spite of challenges and obstacles. Quabbin Food Connector is just one of the many local projects that benefit from Pat's presence and skills, and we're grateful to Senator Jo Comerford for shining this spotlight on the important work she's done in the North Quabbin over many years. Congratulations, Pat!

Pat Larson was in Boston last week to receive a Commonwealth Heroine Award from the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women.

My team and I nominated Pat to recognize decades of work and leadership, especially in the North Quabbin.

After working for 15 years as a high school teacher, Pat began working with adult students as the director of the The Literacy Project’s site in Orange. After retiring from The Literacy Project, she began volunteering in 2010 with what is now Quabbin Harvest, a community-owned grocery store. Quabbin Harvest became a Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) CSA vendor in 2017. By 2018, Pat was coordinating HIP applications. She served on the Quabbin Harvest Board from 2017-2023.

Today, Pat works closely with Quabbin Harvest and leads advocacy work on food access projects and on HIP funding. She assists with HIP processing at the Orange Farmers’ Market, and serves community meals. Pat is also a founding member and president of Quabbin Food Connector, Inc., a non-profit that leads and funds food access projects.

Pat’s work led my team and I to advocate for a successful $100,000 earmark to support the program’s work in the fiscal year 2026 Senate budget, which is on the Governor's desk for her signature.

Congratulations Pat!

06/28/2025

It was good to gather for our quarterly board meeting today and talk about our next steps. Thanks to some generous donors and the earmark grant we're anticipating in the state budget, we have an opportunity to extend the community-centered work we've been doing with our "Protein Bundles" program. Excited to keep iterating this project with many strong local partners! Pat Larson Deb Habib ARRSD Family & Community Center Erica Goulding LaunchSpace Seeds of Solidarity