One bit of silver lining through this pandemic is having the time to participate in my community, Beacon. Maggie and I moved here in May 2019 and felt disconnecte; her commuting to the city and myself traveling to work on shows most of the year. Mutual Aid Beacon provides many necessary services for our community, ranging from providing extra groceries for people who are food insecure to emotional support for homebound neighbors. I’ve been lucky enough to participate since early March in their Wednesday grocery distribution. A large number of people from our community show up on Wednesdays to help bag and distribute groceries for over 500 people.
Pictured above is one of my favorite volunteers, a retired corrections officer Stephanie Hirschmann, who dresses up every week to help direct traffic to our pickup stations and entertain the waiting cars.
In addition to the services provided by Mutual Aid Beacon, there are many other organizations which existed prior to the pandemic that I’ve learned about through this experience.. Please check out the amazing work these organizations have done and continue to do.
Green Teen - The Green Teen program empowers urban youth to be effective community change-agents by immersing them in the local food system. Shout out to coordinator Helanna Bratman…I’m totally your fan girl!
Land to Learn - They integrate nutrition education and experiential learning into public school classrooms by bringing dozens of classes each week outside to school gardens to grow and taste new vegetables, read and write, learn math and science, and learn about health and wellness.
Common Ground - Common Ground is rising to the real need for a strong and equitable local food system that recognizes access to fresh food as a human right and that supports small scale farms.