SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts— In April, Rachel’s Table (RT), a program of the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts, received a federal grant of more than $300,000 over three years from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to help the program expand its Bea’s Harvest and Growing Gardens initiatives. The grant is part of the USDA’s Regional Food System Partnerships (RFSP) program and will also enable RT to explore economic incentives for farmers and employment pathways for people impacted by food insecurity.

“We are grateful to the USDA for this grant, which will allow us to infuse more fresh produce into food insecure communities in Western Massachusetts through our Growing Gardens and Bea’s Harvest initiatives,” said Jodi Falk, director of Rachel’s Table. “This grant will also help us to contribute and collaborate with local leaders on food system resiliency experiments and explore economic incentives for farmers that encourage regenerative and equitable farming practices that benefit the land and community.”  

The USDA grant is already making an impact in this year’s execution of RT’s Growing Gardens and Bea’s Harvest initiatives. RT will continue to use this grant to maintain these two programs as it becomes an independent non-profit organization and through 2025. This Summer, Bea’s Harvest, RT’s 15-year-old gleaning initiative, will be able to develop and launch county-wide “glean teams.” These teams will be made up of volunteers who will harvest produce from local farms and deliver it to partner agencies every week. These new “glean teams” will help RT increase poundage gleaned from approximately 10,000 to 54,000 pounds per year.

For Growing Gardens, the grant will secure the continuation of this initiative through 2025 and support partnerships with local organizations like NOFA-MA (providing urban garden expertise) and FOCUS Springfield (providing youth-led documentary filmmaking). It will also support development of a sustainability plan for Growing Gardens moving forward and provide seed funds to participating agencies to maintain their garden projects after they graduate from this initiative. Additionally, through this grant, Rachel’s Table will explore and collaborate with other local organizations, agencies, and training programs to provide Growing Gardens alumni with more opportunities to expand their food independence efforts. For example, Growing Gardens alumni could work with other local programs to access business planning courses or participate in culinary education programs.

To learn more about Rachel’s Table’s food rescue initiatives and volunteering opportunities visit www.rachelstablepv.org.