Growing a Stronger, More Food-Secure North Shore

Food insecurity has a way of hiding in plain sight. It doesn't always look like an empty refrigerator — sometimes it looks like a parent skipping a meal so their kids don't have to, or a senior stretching a bag of groceries across two weeks. By definition, food insecurity means not having enough food to eat and not knowing where your next meal will come from. And here on the North Shore, it's more common than many of us realize.

According to a recent report from the Greater Boston Food Bank, more than 43% of Essex County residents experienced food insecurity in 2025. That number should stop us in our tracks. It means that for a huge share of our neighbors — the person ringing up your groceries, the family down the street, a classmate of your child — uncertainty about the next meal is a regular part of life.

At Nourishing the North Shore, we believe the fix for hunger and the fix for a fragile local food system are interconnected. Our organization works toward two goals at once: meeting the urgent, immediate need for food security, and building a stronger, more resilient local food economy that can meet the needs of our community for years to come.

In 2025, Nourishing the North Shore invested more than $220,000 into the local food economy, sourcing over 70,000 pounds of fresh produce from more than 15 farms across Essex County and southern New Hampshire. Every dollar spent this way does double duty: it keeps small, sustainable farms viable, and it puts fresh, local food into our distribution programs, which are designed to alleviate hunger and expand access to fresh, local food for all.

Our VEGOUT program is one of the most visible pieces of that work. During the growing season, we host free, weekly VEGOUT Markets at seven locations — senior centers, food pantries, and social service agencies — where neighbors experiencing food insecurity can choose from an abundance of fresh produce at no cost. But the markets are only part of the picture. Nourishing the North Shore also runs weekly bulk distributions to food pantries and meal programs throughout the year, helping our hunger relief partners keep fresh food on their shelves and on their menus. In fact, while the markets are what most people see, they account for only about 37% of the produce we distribute — the remaining 63% goes directly to food pantries and meal programs through bulk distribution.

Our third program, FARM SHARE, connects eligible individuals and families with free and subsidized CSA farm shares — 28 weeks of fresh produce, from June through December. This season, 87 families are participating in FARM SHARE, receiving summer and fall shares from one of our seven local farm partners. For families who couldn't otherwise afford a farm share, it's a reliable source of fresh food all season long. For our farmers, it's dependable, guaranteed support.

Together, these programs make sure fresh, local food reaches our food insecure neighbors wherever they are — at a market, at a pantry, or through a weekly farm share box. So far in 2026, we've already distributed more than 60,000 pounds of food since January, and we're on track to reach our goal of 100,000 pounds by year's end.

In addition to the investments we make in the local food economy, we also rescue food that would otherwise go to waste. In 2025, Nourishing the North Shore received $39,000 worth of donated produce — food that would have ended up in a landfill or a compost pile — and redirected it to the plates of neighbors facing hunger. That’s a real food waste reduction translated directly into meals.

By investing in our local farms, we build a stronger food system, cut down on waste, and chip away at hunger — all right here in our own community.

If this work resonates with you, we'd love for you to be part of it. Join us for our Sunset Soirée on September 24, 2026, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Bradstreet Farm in Rowley — an evening celebrating the power of community and the impact we've built together. Enjoy farm-to-table fare, an open bar, exciting auction packages, and great company, all while supporting neighbors facing food insecurity and the local farmers who make this work possible. Visit our website (nourishingthenorthshore.org) to reserve your ticket, or to find other ways to get involved.

Tany Blasko is the executive director of Nourishing the North Shore and may be reached at tany@nourishingthenorthshore.

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This educational column was originally published by The Daily News of Newburyport on September 9, 2026.