Sometimes, a challenge in our world can bring a community together. As the state’s “stay in place” orders took hold, Rachel’s Table had to find a way to continue distributing and rescuing food. The answer became clear as we expanded our partnerships with two wonderful Springfield agencies: the Springfield Rescue Mission and the Salvation Army Rehabilitation Center. Rachel’s Table needed to rescue food from our donor restaurants and other organizations with excess food and deliver the food to our recipient agencies. They provided the means to distribute the food.
These expanded partnerships ensured that not only the Springfield Rescue Mission and the Salvation Army are recipients of the food from our food donors, but, other agencies would be as well. Both partner agencies agreed to send food to other agencies that are part of Rachel’s Table’s general operations.
Throughout, March, April, and May either Bob Hanson at the Rescue Mission or Laurie Blanchette at the Salvation Army – Liberty Rehab fielded a call from Rachel’s Table. Items they picked up ranged from large amounts of cereal from a local camp, excess milk from Bay State Hospital, pallets of snacks from Jozev Products, Inc. Together, we fed more people during this crisis than we could on our own.
As we move into June and slowly begin our daily pick-ups, we are grateful for their support and partnership in feeding our community.
Rachel’s Table remains grateful and humbled by our enduring partnership with Salvation Army and the Springfield Rescue Mission.
Press about the expanded partnerships: