Success stories

• Increased awareness across our service area with five new, and one repeat, community outreach events in Spring 2025 which helped us recruit 60 new volunteers! And 2 of these were fundraising events, generating nearly $12,000.
• Reached more low-income children with 2 new sites at affordable housing locations, 4 new convenient locations, and 10 more accessible Grab & Go sites.
• Served meals kids loved, adding fresh fruit + vegetables in place of juice at lunch.
• Handled the increase in complexity and scale thanks to experienced managers, loyal volunteers, and reliable seasonal staff all of whom jumped in where needed and put in a lot of extra hours.
• Kids loved the special programming including 3,500 free books, 3 poetry and rap programs by local author GPa Rhymes, 3 cooking/nutrition classes by the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension, and 4 live performances by the Harwich Junior Players.
• Successful pilot of using 3 hydroponic farming units at Eddy and Eastham Elementary Schools for fresh lettuce — we plan to expand in 2026.

Thanks to YOU, all this was possible.

Challenges

• Capacity to make, pack and deliver meals; Kitchen Volunteers worked longer and harder, Chock full freezers and refrigerators, Food temping issues
• Cash flow — food and staff costs way higher paired with slow income flow
• Deficit budgets unsustainable; New funding sources slow to start, Unknown impact of federal funding cuts coming in 2026-2028, Income has not kept up with the cost of hiring of an Executive Director.