By Emily Mastellone-Snyder, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Marketing, and Communications
Sometimes, the biggest changes happen behind the scenes.
This spring, Rachel’s Table of Western MA (RTWM) celebrated the opening of our new, expanded office and the arrival of a dedicated gleaning and farm rescue truck—two investments in the infrastructure that are helping us grow thoughtfully and sustainably. Our new office space gives us 1,600 square feet, up from 600, with room to meet with donors and community members, accommodate a growing staff, and continue our work feeding our community.
The new gleaning and farm rescue truck is already changing what is possible in our gleaning and farm rescue programs. Community Gleaning Coordinator Sarah Bluestein writes: “It’s amazing to have a dedicated vehicle for the program that is designed to navigate unmaintained farm roads,” reducing wear and tear on volunteer and staff cars. Volunteers can leave their cars in a safer parking area while the truck carries tools and empty boxes into the field. When the boxes are full of gleaned produce, Sarah can then drive into the field to collect them.
“When we work in long farm field rows, now I tell volunteers to leave full boxes on the edge of the row and I drive down the road collecting them,” she says. “In the past we would have to walk them all in or pull them in a cart. Using the truck to do this is much more efficient, safer, and faster.”
The truck is also making it easier to respond when farms have surplus produce to donate (what we call “farm rescue”) that needs to move quickly. Farm rescue often happens with very little notice, when a farm needs to clear its cooler that day. “Having a designated gleaning truck, in addition to the cold storage we rent at Kitchen Garden Farm in Sunderland, means that I can say yes every time now (so far), knowing that we have a large transport vehicle and a place to put it,” Sarah says.
Just recently, Next Barn Over and Stone Soup Farm offered a combined more than 1,000 pounds of surplus produce leftover from their CSA distributions. No agencies had capacity to receive it that day, but Sarah lined up deliveries two days later and held the produce in cold storage until then. “This enabled me to deepen relationships with the farms and with our agency partners,” she says.
The truck also means Sarah can bring “many more boxes to a glean,” allowing more produce to be packed and distributed. It has also helped stabilize Sunday gleaning. Because agencies often cannot receive produce on Sundays, Sarah previously had to find multiple volunteers willing to help transport the harvest to cold storage. Now, “at the end of a Sunday glean, I can bring it all myself,” she says. “It’s a relief to not have to worry about who will be available.”
These may sound like small changes, but together they make the gleaning program more reliable, efficient, and sustainable. In 2025, RTWM rescued and shared 116,941 pounds of produce from local farms, up from 50,681 in 2024—a 130% increase! With this new truck, we can help stabilize that rapid growth as we continue to respond to and grow with our farm partners.
The new truck and office are more than physical improvements. They are the kind of thoughtful investments that allow a growing organization to do its work better—to respond when an opportunity arises, support volunteers and staff, strengthen relationships with farmers and partner agencies, and build systems that can sustain our work for years to come.
And the truck is already getting noticed. Sarah says many people have told her they’ve seen it on the road and making deliveries—a visible reminder of the work happening behind the scenes every day.
We’re deeply grateful to the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts and Max Cares Foundation for helping make the new truck possible, and to Go Graphix for donating the truck decals.
Read more about our new truck and office in recent news coverage:
WWLP TV News segment about our ribbon cutting event