NEWS

COVID-19 has encouraged collaboration between organizations to an extent not seen before. This year, St. Brigid’s Kitchen and Foodworks collaborated to create November and December Holiday food boxes—joining forces to distribute over 400 boxes of holiday food to anyone in need.

For many years, St. Brigid’s Kitchen & Pantry and Foodworks of Groundworks Collaborative, have each distributed holiday food boxes in both November and December. These events usually involve transforming our normal locations into festive free “storefronts” where people choose items that best make sense for their family. We knew that with COVID, we wouldn’t be able to have an indoor distribution event and would have to come up with a creative solution. We decided to collaborate on an outdoor distribution event, which we did with great success.

Combining forces helped both organizations manage logistical challenges unique to each program. Brigid’s Kitchen supplied an outdoor venue more suitable for a COVID-safe distribution, as well as the people-power to both assemble the holiday boxes and manage distribution. Foodworks supplied much of the food and created an updated registration and scheduling system. Sharing a registration system benefited the people receiving these boxes as well, creating multiple avenues for registration to ensure no one in need of food would go without. Most importantly, by sharing resources, the contents of the boxes were made much more abundant than if we were each distributing food on our own.

Groundworks and St. Brigid’s Kitchen are grateful for the many people that helped make these special boxes possible, including:  Pete’s Tire Barn of Chesterfield, who donated 75 hams and 800 lbs. of potatoes; Shaw’s Supermarket of Wilmington, who donated 70 turkeys and Thanksgiving sides; and Granite City Electric Supply of Brattleboro, who donated over 100 packages of Vermont cheese and $1,000 for the purchase of essential foods. Local butter, meat, and produce were also purchased at reduced wholesale prices from the Vermont Foodbank.

A big thank you to our great crew of volunteers that helped pack and distribute the boxes on two cold Sunday afternoons and enjoyed helping to make this difficult season happier for so many. We hope to see many more collaborations occur throughout the community.

Brigid’s Kitchen serves free to-go lunch to anyone in need at 38 Walnut Street on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 11:30am-12:30pm. For more information on how to support St. Brigid’s Kitchen or receive help, please call 802-558-6072 or visit the website at StBrigidsKitchenAndPantry.org.

Foodworks at 141 Canal Street supplies drive-thru personalized groceries to anyone in need on Mondays from 11am-4pm, Wednesdays from 1pm-6pm, Fridays from 12pm-4pm, and the last Saturday of each month from 9am-noon. To schedule a delivery (Tuesdays only) please call 802-490-2412 or email Foodworks@GroundworksVT.org. For more information on how to support Foodworks, visit GroundworksVT.org.

With gratitude,

Carolyn Pieciak Volunteer Director St. Brigid’s Kitchen & Pantry

Christine Colascione Foodworks Coordinator Groundworks Collaborative