Come celebrate fresh food and healthy eating at the Fresh Food Fair! Join us on July 19th at 11 AM-4 PM at the Jeremiah E. Burke High School. The event will highlight a variety of Boston community food resources. As part of food demonstrations, you will receive tasty free samples and recipe cards for fresh salads. There will be free food and other fun activities, like our collard greens competition and raffle prizes will be awarded. All are welcome, don’t miss out on the fun!
On September 18th we hosted ‘Freshest in Boston’ our first annual fundraising event, celebrating food, health and the city of Boston. Guests enjoyed locally inspired eats, sips, and sweets while experiencing what fresh food means to our communities.
Check out the full album of Freshest in Boston photos here.
We also want to extend a big thank you to the freshest sponsors in Boston for their generous support of our mission!
With the summer coming to a close we are excited to share one of the programs that is close to our heart. Freedom Schools is a reading literacy summer program implemented in communities across the U.S.A. where there exist gaps in access to quality academic programming. Originating from the civil rights movement of the South, Freedom Schools started with the intention to organize African Americans in seeking social, economic, and political equality in the U.S. through education as well as literacy programs for all. Today, thanks to the passion, development, and hard work of Cathy Draine and Mayra Leith the Freedom Schools summer camp in Boston has been expanded to include programming related to financial literacy, restorative community justice, as well as food and cooking literacy for the entire family. We couldn’t have been more excited to partner with the Freedom Schools and to have the annual opportunity to engage deeper and more directly with families and their communities about food culture and community health.
Fresh Truck’s involvement in the program is rooted in weekly inter-generational cooking demonstrations hosted by elders in the Grove Hall community. Every Wednesday evening over the 6-week program Freedom Schools Scholars and their families would gather for a potluck and cooking demonstration. We provided fresh ingredients for the host to prepare their recipe in front of the group. After the presentation kids and their parents would receive $10 to pick out ingredients from the demo and any of their other fresh favorites. This programming created engaging touch points around food and health while celebrating healthy food culture and traditions within the Grove Hall community.
Over the 6 weeks, we had many memorable moments with Scholars and their families. Miss Mayra’s mother and husband cooked traditional Cape Verdean food and showed us the importance that role models have in keeping traditional food & cooking culture alive. Identifying these folks not only helped us learn more about the different fruits and veggies that the Roxbury community enjoys but also about how people use food to pass down their heritage and knowledge to the next generation. This way we could not only share knowledge on healthy eating but also restorative community power that will uplift the intersectional cultural realities we all live within.
During the smoothie demonstration Scholars were able to participate in preparing and blending their own drinks. Throughout all the demonstrations Scholars were encouraged to try new things. With their smoothies, they were able to try new and different combinations, including green smoothies. Which to their surprise still tasted great! Getting them involved and learning with their hands and taste buds empowered the Scholars to understand more about their diets, bodies, and nutrition. Parents also reported having an easier time getting them to eat healthily and be involved in their food preparation at home.
Our work with Freedom Schools is a fun and rewarding part of our summer each and every year. Over 6 weeks we are able to engage deeply with Scholars, families and Freedom School staff in order to meaningfully support their programs. We want to give specials thanks to MassHousing for their annual support and enthusiasm for our work with Freedom Schools. We also want to extend our gratitude to Miss Mayra, Miss Cathy and entire the Freedom Schools staff and parents council for their hard work and dedication to making this incredible program happen.
Fresh Truck’s mission has always been to radically impact community health by getting food to the people that need it most, which iswhy we are excited to be an approved Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) Retailer. According to the official HIP announcement under the Mass Grow Initiative, “The Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) matches your SNAP purchases of local fruits and vegetables when shopping at farmers markets, farm stands, mobile markets and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share programs.” HIP is not only the first program of its kind for SNAP recipients, but also to the state of Massachusetts. Its objective is to specifically support local businesses and farmers as well as reduce the economic constraints that limit low-income people from purchasing fresh produce.
Here is how it works: HIP enables SNAP customers on Fresh Truck to be automatically reimbursed on their EBT cards for all purchases of fruits and vegetables. All SNAP recipients are automatically enrolled in the program and due to the online systems, all reimbursements happen immediately after the purchase. The monthly amount available for reimbursement varies based upon household size and can be summarized as follows:
| 1-2 persons | $4O household cap |
| 3-5 persons | $6O household cap |
| 6+ persons | $8O household cap |
With the addition of the Healthy Incentives Program, Fresh Truck will be able to continue to increase access and affordability of fresh food to more Boston families. The program is currently up and running at all of our year-round 14 weekly stops across the city. We are incredibly excited to make this incredible resource available to our families!
For more information about HIP please visit the official information page.
En Espanol
La misión de Fresh Truck siempre ha sido impactar radicalmente la salud de la comunidad al conseguir comida para las personas que más lo necesitan. Por esta razón, estamos muy contentos de anunciar nuestra certificación como uno de los primeros vendedores de Healthy Incentives Program (HIP). Según el anuncio oficial de HIP en el marco de Mass Grow Initiative “HIP coincide con sus compras SNAP de frutas y verduras locales al comprar en mercados de agricultores, . “HIP no solo es el primer programa de su tipo para los receptores de SNAP, sino también para el estado de Massachusetts, y parece ser un ejemplo para el resto de los Estados Unidos. Su objetivo es apoyar específicamente a las empresas locales y las agricultoras, así como incentivar a la gente a comer productos frescos y locales
Así es como funciona. HIP permite a nuestros clientes de SNAP ser reembolsados automáticamente en sus tarjetas EBT para todas las compras de productos fabricados en el Fresh Truck. No hay que registrarse para ser elegible, ya que todos los destinatarios de SNAP se inscriben automáticamente en el programa, y ya que nuestros sistemas están en línea, todos los reembolsos se realizan inmediatamente después de la compra.
Hay que gastar tus dólares de HIP, porque no se deshacen, aunque los reembolsos permanezcan en tu cuenta hasta el próximo mes. Así que es como conseguir dinero gratis para gastar principalmente en los mercados locales de alimentos mensualmente!
La cantidad mensual disponible para el reembolso varía según el tamaño del hogar y se puede ver aquí en corto:
| 1-2 personas | $ 4O limite mensual de casa |
| 3-5 personas | $ 6O limite mensual de casa |
| 6+ personas | $ 😯 limite mensual de casa |
Ahora que tenemos nuestros sistemas en línea, también seremos capaces de servir a nuestra comunidad, dándoles uno de los únicos puntos de acceso móviles que lleva HIP en una base de todo el año a 14 paradas semanales en Boston. Estamos muy emocionados de agregar otro punto a nuestro modelo que nos permite entregar los alimentos más frescos a todas las comunidades que siguen liderando el crecimiento de Fresh Truck una bolsa de productos deliciosos a la vez!
Para obtener más información sobre HIP, visite la página de información oficial
Our Weekly Market program provides consistent access to fresh, affordable food options for neighborhoods that do not have brick and mortar grocery stores. We offer a variety of more than 3O fresh fruits, vegetables, and other healthy food items, all at a great price. We accept cash, credit, and EBT. All of our food is sourced fresh from Katsiroubas Brothers Wholesale or local farms — it is never donated or rescued.
Stop by any of our Weekly Market stops to pick up your groceries for the week!
If you’re a fan of fresh produce and other awesome food then you know Whole Foods rocks.
If you’re reading this blog, you probably also think Fresh Truck rocks.
Well great news! Now you can shop at Whole Foods and contribute to Fresh Truck all at once! We’re super excited to announce that this Tuesday, September 22nd, Fresh Truck will be participating in Whole Food’s 5% Day, during which 5% of the day’s net sales will be donated to your favorite fruit bus!
A few times a year, Whole Foods hosts 5% Days in support of local nonprofits. And just like the locally-sourced produce they sell, the organizations they donate to vary based upon the area. Community-driven events like these are close to our heart here at Fresh Truck, and we’re both honored and excited to be participating this year.
So stop into your local Boston Whole Foods this Tuesday and show us some support. Participating locations are Whole Foods Charles River Plaza, Jamaica Plain, Symphony and South End. Aren’t you running low on eggs, anyways?
Oh, and keep your eyes peeled for our Truck…we just might be making some spontaneous stops outside each store!
Thanks to our great friends over at HoodFit, we’re wrapping up a crazy week of programs and Pop-Up Markets here at Fresh Truck. Crazy is a good thing, though…especially when you get the chance to hang with 50 HoodFit Campers!
So here’s where the craziness starts: we hosted three cooking demos for the campers throughout the week. Then they did some shopping on the truck to put together a Meal Kit so they could make what they learned for their families at home! Of course we taught them how to make guac <3
Campers closed out their week of fun with a field day at Trotter Park in Dorchester, where we hosted our final Pop-Up Market of the week. We got 150 shoppers in the truck, but what’s most important to us is that 150 families were able to leave with fresh food!
Last week was pretty awesome—but it’s just the beginning. Expect to see more HoodFit x Fresh Truck programs and events down the road, in even more Boston neighborhoods. Make sure you check out our Food Fuel Pop-Up Market on September 12th for the HoodFit 5k at the Dimock Health Center in Roxbury!
HoodFit seeks to amplify the positive attributes that has allowed us to grow strong, experience resilience and exercise strategic problem solving. Read more here.
From: Allison Murphy | @alimurphy735
We had a great Saturday with the families at Fit for the King at Martin Luther King K-8 in Dorchester. We made silly faces, talked about foods we want to try, chatted with Boston City Council Member Ayanna Pressley and enjoyed a few sweet treats.
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Our first ever Fresh Truck Holiday Pop-Up Markets were sponsored by BMC Healthnet Plan to spread some holiday joy by filling peoples tables and bellies with healthy food during the holiday season. BMCHP hosted the pop-up markets, answering questions about health insurance and handing out “Fresh Truck Bucks” for families to spend on the truck. Fresh Truck was on site and filled to the brim with holiday freshness.
We want to give a huge thank you to Healthy Kids Healthy Futures, Upham’s Corner Health Center, Dorchester YMCA, Codman Square Health Center and East Boston Neighborhood Health Center for hosting us and doing a great job getting the word out in their communities. Our partners did such a great job that we had 3 record setting sell out days!
Our Holiday Pop- Up Markets laid the groundwork for our vegetable prescription program that we’ll be rolling out in the new year. The enthusiasm and input from our families has us eager to expand Fresh Truck’s presence across Boston.
Have a happy holiday and a wonderful new year!
The Fresh Truck Team
