When I started working for a small Cambridge-based Foundation. I commuted by bike. That offered the dual advantage of sidestepping the traffic that had become overwhelming and reintroducing me to a city I had known for decades. How the place had changed! I remember when East Cambridge or rather Greater Kendall Square seemed to be primarily a collection of vacant lots between MIT and Cambridge Street.
As I made my way around. I kept seeing people in lines. To my surprise, they often turned out to be clients of food pantries. In this rich, progressive, thriving city, the big secret just out of sight was hunger. As I got more familiar with that reality, I quickly encountered an organization called Food For Free which addressed need with the qualities that for me define Cambridge: a genius for innovation, a commitment to community and a willingness to engage across lines of traditional separation.
But hunger turns out to be powerful. It can inspire connection. I became fascinated by the organization which responded to local need with an organization that rescues food otherwise going to waste and gets it into the hands of those in need. Under the direction of Sasha Purpura, Food For Free does a heroic job. One of the goals of this blog is to make this work more visible—both to help us all understand the nature and scale of food insecurity here in our community and also to honor those who are making a difference in a tough time.
So I have two goals here: to write about food up close, and to present the greater context. I hope you’ll follow our work, and visit www.quakerlasagna.com/food-for-free to learn more about how you can get involved.
Quaker Lasagna 