An estimated one in three children in Massachusetts experiences food insecurity. Hunger severely impacts a child’s ability to focus in school and can delay important developmental milestones. To help ensure students are ready to learn, we partner with Community Teamwork’s Head Start Early Learning Center in Lowell and Bridge Boston Charter School in Roxbury. Gaining Ground produce is incorporated directly into school breakfasts, snacks, and lunches, and is shared with families through free farmers markets.

The team at Head Start tell us, “Especially for our working families, getting to the store and being able to afford high-quality foods can be challenging. By working with Gaining Ground, we make fresh, healthy food completely convenient for our families.”

To sustain these vital school partnerships, we rely on volunteer drivers to deliver fresh produce from the farm. Specifically, mothers and daughters from local National Charity League (NCL) chapters step up each week to deliver boxes of freshly harvested produce to both organizations. By meeting these students and their families where they are, we are expanding access and reducing barriers to healthy food options.