Worcester Food & Active Living

Engaging diverse partners to foster a healthy and just food system and active community environment in Worcester, MA.

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Reducing Food Waste Could Eliminate Hunger

Reducing Food Waste Could Eliminate Hunger

Who would have thought that “food waste reduction/management” would make it onto a list of Top 20 Food Trends compiled by the National Restaurant Association? But there it sits at #19 on the list of the hottest menu trends forecast for 2016. The NRA (not THAT NRA, this one is about food!) polled its member chefs and restaurant owners asking them to name emerging menu trends in fine dining. Their…

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ACTION ALERT: Senate FY17 Budget Markup - Call Your Senators!

ACTION ALERT: Senate FY17 Budget Markup – Call Your Senators!

Thanks for stepping up to fight hunger and food insecurity in Massachusetts! Today’s the  day! We need everyone to step up and get your dialing fingers ready. The MA Senate Budget Committee has released their version of the FY17 MA budget, and it’s missing some very important funding to continue anti-hunger efforts here in Massachusetts. Many, many thanks go out to our Senate Food Policy…

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Healthy Cities, Smart Growth and Walkability

A healthy, thriving downtown is one that works well for all of us. If you haven't been paying attention, it's time to catch up with what the WRA has planned for downtown.

Worcester has an overall Walk Score of 54, according to WalkScore.com, a website that scores cities across the country on how easy it is to accomplish basic daily errands on foot. It has a Transit Score of 35, which is, by all accounts a pretty terrible score for a city of our size. We don’t even rate a Bike Score. In comparison to other major cities in New England, we have a ways to go. But we…

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Meet Our New Manager

Meet Worcester Food Policy Council's new Manager, Martha Assefa. Martha hit the ground running, but we finally got her to stand still for a minute

Outgoing director, Liz Sheehan-Castro and incoming director, Martha Assefa, take a break during a busy work day to say thank you to all of our partners working hard to improve healthy food access for our community. With the MA legislature working on our state’s budget, annual food drives, the new Food Hub and the start of farmers market season, it’s been a couple of  crazy busy months here at the…

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Who Decides What Your Kids Have for Lunch?

Who Decides What Your Kids Have for Lunch?

Action Alert! Congress has not yet passed a Child Nutrition Reauthorization bill, putting funding for school lunch programs and other child nutrition programs in danger. FeedingAmerica.org has a good overview of the bill passed by the Senate Agriculture Committee, and an easy way to contact your elected representatives to urge them to support it. Learn More and Speak Up Healthy school lunches are…

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Healthy Eating Can Reduce Impact of Lead

A follow-up to last month's post about lead in the soil - did you know that a healthy diet can help prevent childhood lead poisoning? Find out why that's important in a city like Worcester, and which foods you should be including in your kids' daily diet (school lunch planners - take note!)

EPA pamphlet on protecting children and families from lead poisoning – This pamphlet from the EPA offers all sorts of lead poisoning prevention tips – and half a dozen easy recipes using foods that are high in calcium, iron and vitamin C, and low in fat. The unfolding tragedy in Flint is keeping the issue of lead in inner cities at the top of the news cycles. Last month, we noted that Worcester,…

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City Gardening - Time to Start Planning

City Gardening – Time to Start Planning

Yes, it’s January in New England – hardly prime gardening time – but it’s the perfect time to start your planning for the spring and summer. If you’re gardening in the city, soil quality is an important consideration. The concentration of lead and other heavy metals can be especially high in urban soil, particularly in an industrial city like Worcester. If you’re planning a vegetable garden this…

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Big Change in the New Year!

Big Change in the New Year!

Dear Friends of the Worcester Food & Active Living Policy Council, Happy New Year!  I hope that you are all entering into 2016 with excitement and energy – I know I am!  A New Year is a great time to make change in our lives, and I’m about to embark on a change that I’m very excited about.  I have accepted an offer for a new position at the Worcester County Food Bank as their new (and first)…

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Day 4 - 31 Days of Giving: Veterans Inc.

Day 4 - 31 Days of Giving: Veteran's Inc - because homeless and veterans don't go together

Since 1990, Veterans Inc has been providing assistance to homeless and in-need veterans in Worcester County. We’ve often said that there are two words that should never be spoken together – homeless veteran. Nor should there be such a thing as a hungry veteran. For 25 years, Veterans Inc  has been working toward the day that both of those concepts are inconceivable. In 2013, the Office for…

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Da y 3 - 31 Days of Giving: Jeremiah's Inn

Da y 3 – 31 Days of Giving: Jeremiah’s Inn

Jeremiah’s Inn is a model social recovery program for men in Worcester. The Inn also operates a food pantry for eligible families within its service area (zip codes 01610, 01602 and 01603. In 2012, Jeremiah’s Inn provided food assistance to nearly 6,000 households, representing more than 13,000 individuals – 30% of them under the age of 18. The food pantry, like most food pantries, operates…

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5210 - The More You Know

5210 – The More You Know

One of the most important things you can do in raising healthy kids is to educate yourself on the facts and research surrounding kids’ diets and health. A recent study published in Obesity had some pretty startling results. As reported in the Washington Post, researchers found that decreasing the amount of sugar in kids’ diets has a beneficial effect in as few as 10 days. The study focused…

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Day 2 - 31 Days of Giving: Regional Environmental Council

Today's 31 Days of Giving feature: Regional Environmental Council of Central Massachusetts

Good morning! Today’s focus in 31 Days of Giving is the Regional Environmental Council, one of the local organizations that are most involved at the intersection of food justice, youth and environmental accountability. REC Worcester is the organization responsible for the various Worcester community farmers markets, including the Main South Farmers Market, the Beaver Brook Farmers Market and the…

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31 Days of Giving - Day 1

#GivingTuesday 31 Days of Giving

Good morning! By lucky coincidence, this year’s Giving Tuesday coincides with the first day of the month. To celebrate, we’re extending it to a Month of Giving. Each day, we’ll highlight a community organization that is giving back to the community and can use your help. Worcester faces many challenges with regards to hunger, food insecurity, childhood obesity, and the health of all citizens. At…

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Facts About Seniors and Food Insecurity

Facts About Seniors and Food Insecurity

In late October, the Social Security Administration announced that there will be no Cost of Living Adjustment for Social Security benefits, a decision that marks just the third time since 1972 that SS checks (and a number of other benefit programs that use the SS benefit amount to determine their benefit amounts) will not see a COLA increase in the new year despite the fact that their expenses –…

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National School Lunch Week - Five Key Facts About School Lunch

National School Lunch Week – Five Key Facts About School Lunch

It’s National School Lunch Week, and this year, the theme is School Lunch Snapshot. The National School Lunch Program is running a school lunch photo contest, so prepare yourself for an onslaught of school lunch tray photos in your Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds. While you’re checking out what your kids are eating at school each day (Worcester Public School menus are here), remember that…

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5 Cookbooks for Eating Well on a SNAP Budget

5 Cookbooks for Eating Well on a SNAP Budget

The average SNAP benefit amount for 2015 is $4.17 per person. Process that for a moment. Divide it among 3 meals and 2 snacks – the Institute of Medicine Committee on Nutrition Standards for Foods in Schools recommends that 9% of total calories for school age children be devoted to snacks – and $4.17 translates to less than $1 per person per meal/snack daily. How well can you eat on less than a…

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Behind the SNAP Benefit - Facts, Figures and Policies

Behind the SNAP Benefit – Facts, Figures and Policies

Fact: The average SNAP benefit is $4.17 per person per day. That amount is based on the USDA’s Thrifty Food Plan, which was developed in 2006 to count the cost of the minimum amount of food needed to meet its recommended nutritional standards for people of different ages and needs. The “plan” creates a fictional “market basket” of foods bought by a family to provide all of its meals for a week or…

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