Lex Eat Together Addresses Food Insecurity
L ex Eat Together located at the Church of Our Redeemer addresses hunger and food insecurity in and around Lexington. Recent trends show that food insecurity among households with children in Massachusetts is trending upward from the low seen in April 2021 when families were receiving many federal and state-level benefits.
Lex Eat Together launched its Prepared Meals effort in November 2022. Board Member George Murnaghan said, “Guests can order meals from our website for pickup on Wednesday from 5:30 pm-6:30 pm. Lex Eat Together volunteers prepare nutritious entrees which are packed in “to go” containers and bagged with fruit and a dessert for guests to pick up at the church. In addition to the main entrée, we also offer vegan and mac and cheese alternatives. Currently, we provide around 75 meals each Wednesday to individuals and families.”
In December 2022, the group partnered with Middlesex Community College (MCC) in a lunch-making initiative supporting
College students and their families. Each Wednesday morning, Lex Eat Together makes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for distribution at Middlesex’s Bedford and Lowell campuses.
Community college students often face significant challenges in putting food on the table as they balance the demands of school, work, and family lives. One of the MCC administrators, Jonathan Crockett, wrote, “These sandwiches continue to be a tremendous success and a big hit with students, more and more every week. They certainly bring magic in the comfortable power of a PB&J sandwich, but there’s also the consistency of having sandwiches every week, so many students anticipate the arrival of Wednesdays and the availability of the free PB&J sandwiches.”
In addition, Lex Eats volunteers prepare 40 bagged lunches-sandwiches, fruit, chips, and cookies every Thursday morning for distribution by the Community Day Center in Waltham, which serves unhoused guests and others in need. In November, it delivered its 5000th bagged lunch to the Center!
As of March 2023, approximately 19.2% of all households in the state reported food insecurity. Although perhaps individually small in scale, these initiatives have combined to make a significant difference for those who face hunger in the Commonwealth. Lex Eat Together will soon mark its 25,000th meal served or distributed since our first in-person meal in October 2015.
For more information, visit http://www.lexeattogether.org/contact.html or scan the QR code below.