By Anita Fritz
One hundred and sixty-six teens recently participated in Rachel’s Table’s Foodraiser, a shopping competition for individuals and youth teams to feed the hungry, and some of what they collected is going to the Franklin County Community Meals Program.
It was all part of a friendly competition to fill the shelves not only of the local program, but of the Amherst Survival Center and Providence Ministries in Holyoke.
“The youth ranged in ages from 11 to 18, and they were instructed to ‘purchase’ the most amount of nutritious items on a budget,” said Jodi Falk, executive director of Rachel’s Table, a program of the Springfield-based Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts that works to alleviate hunger and reduce food waste.