city_hall

Official websites use .boston.gov

A .boston.gov website belongs to an official government organization in the City of Boston.

lock

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Healthy Food Access Through Cold Storage Grants Awarded

Twelve organizations implementing strategies that expand refrigeration and freezer space to ensure food is fresh, safe and available to residents across the City.

In December, the City of Boston’s Office of Food Justice (OFJ) awarded Healthy Food Access through Cold Storage grants ranging from $8,000 to $80,000 and totaling $500,000 in ARPA funds to twelve organizations:

These grantees play a key role in addressing food insecurity amongst Boston residents as health centers, food distribution sites, food pantries and food recovery organizations. The grants will fund increased cold storage or refrigerated transportation and related capacity that will support these organizations to provide more fresh food to key neighborhoods in Boston facing high rates of food insecurity. Nearly 75% of the funds will go towards increasing the amount of recovered food (i.e. fresh food and shelf-stable food that is edible and would otherwise go to waste) going to Boston residents.

Over the next twenty-two months, grantees will implement solutions as a means to accomplish activities like accepting larger donations of fresh produce, turning over food inventory quickly and extending reach and distribution of perishable foods. Together, the grantees will connect nutritious foods, including recovered and donated food, to racially diverse populations including residents in historically disinvested communities who face food insecurity and limited access to affordable, healthy food options.

boxes of fruits and vegetables

Lack of refrigeration is a key roadblock to increasing access to no or low cost fresh foods, especially fruits and vegetables, meat, eggs, dairy and seafood for residents. Stakeholders in the emergency food system and food recovery ecosystem, engaged as part of OFJ’s recently completed Food Recovery Assessment, emphasized the need for cold storage and coordination to recover fresh food and increase its distribution to families safely and quickly. Nina Sevilla, Program Advocate at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), a national expert on reducing food waste who has collaborated with OFJ, said:  

“Cold storage capacity, like refrigeration, is often a limiting factor in getting recovered food on the tables of those who need it. These investments from the Office of Food Justice are important because cold storage extends the shelf life of food, allowing for more time to get good food to our plates.”

Community health centers, churches and food pantries are amongst the many organizations stitching together a network of strategies to ensure Boston residents have better access to fresh food. Particular grantees have committed to increasing the availability of culturally relevant foods serving the dietary needs of Boston residents. One of the grantees, DotHouse Health, is a community health center based in Fields Corner. DotHouse Health President and CEO Michelle Nadow shared:

“DotHouse Health has been awarded $80,000 in funding to increase their ability to transport and store perishable items. The DotHouse food pantry has served the diverse Fields Corner neighborhood and surrounding communities for over 40 years and has faced challenges addressing mounting food insecurity since COVID due to capacity and volunteer staffing limitations. DotHouse will invest in a larger vehicle and install a walk-in freezer and reach-in refrigeration units, ensuring our ability to serve our community with balanced, nutritious, culturally relevant food for decades to come.”

Funding cold storage helps increase the volume of food that is eaten instead of wasted, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions from food going to landfills or being incinerated.  Another grantee, Food For Free, recovers food and transports that food. OFJ shares in the enthusiasm that Tim Cavaretta, Director of Operations at Food For Free, expressed:

“This generous grant will help fund the purchase and operation of two refrigerated box trucks, which are critical to Food For Free's mission of improving food security in Boston by recovering and distributing fresh, healthy food. These vehicles will allow us to add a food recovery route [in Boston] and increase distribution by up to 200,000 pounds annually-equivalent to more than 165,0000 meals”

As further commitment to cold storage infrastructure investment, the City of Boston is supporting a collaborative food storage and distribution hub. The collaborative hub will allow more fresh, refrigerated food to reach food pantries, food access organizations and other food distribution sites throughout Boston. It is our hope that through the collaborative food hub and with the Healthy Food Access through Cold Storage grants, we can support efforts to fulfill the immediate food assistance needs of our residents.

  • Last updated:
  • Last updated:
Back to top