This Q&A is part of a series highlighting the work of the 2020 Funds to Feed Grantees, community organizations who provided critical food during the COVID-19 pandemic. Answers have been edited for clarity and length.
Diana Gregory, founder of Diana Gregory Outreach Services, sat down with LISC to talk about the impact of their Funds to Feed project.
What was your organization doing before the pandemic? What new opportunities opened up because of your Funds to Feed project?
Prior to the pandemic, Gregory Fresh Market was operating like a one-aisle farmers’ market. Senior citizens and veterans could come on a monthly basis and have access to up to 30 different fruits and vegetables. This format provided them with socialization versus isolation, and it supported their independence. They didn't have to worry about asking someone to take them to the grocery store. In many of these locations, we've been serving them for more than 10 years.
Now, we didn't just do farmers’ markets. We offered healthy cooking classes. We had a chef that would come in and do classes for seniors, veterans, grandparents raising grandchildren. We also offered exercise classes. We made it such an event that seniors and veterans looked forward to us coming. The platform worked so well we used it to educate them about things like blood pressure testing.
The Funds to Feed Grant was the opportunity for us to have no disruption in services. We pivoted from a farmers’ market to a delivery model. You've heard of Meals on Wheels, right? We're kind of like veggies on wheels. The grant gave us the opportunity to almost double the amount of people we were serving. We were able to make a bigger impact because we were able to go to these places on a more regular basis, it allowed us to increase the frequency of providing these seniors and veterans and grandparents with fresh fruits and vegetables. It made fresh fruits and vegetables a part of their meal on a more regular basis, a part of their diet. It allowed us to include nutritional information and recipes inside the bags. One senior said it very nicely in terms of the service that we were able to provide as a result of the grant. She said being able to get these bags of produce was the difference between having a meal and starving. The grant enabled us to help combat food insecurity. We focused on about nine zip codes that were in areas where there really was a need.
How did you use the Funds to Feed Grant money? Where did you source your food? What new partnerships formed because of the project?
We used two-thirds of the grant money for food. The other third was used for things like PPE, operations and volunteer stipends.
We sourced our foods from Peddler’s Son Produce. We also have a farm, a quarter acre, and we were able to provide seniors probably close to 4,000 pounds of food from the garden. We serve over 10,000 seniors and veterans on an annual basis, and so we're not able to supply everyone with pesticide-free food from the garden. What LISC did was provide the seeds and seedlings for the garden.
Regarding new partnerships, the American Heart Association provided educational materials that we included in each of the bags. Our quarter-acre farm is at Spaces of Opportunity, and we have partnerships with farmers. We all support one another.
Can you share the positive aspects of incorporating cultural practices and histories in your project and how the cultural focus helped reach new communities?
We were able to honor cultural practices with the produce we offered. For example, one of our locations was Memorial Towers. Memorial Towers is 70 percent Asian. In our delivery program, we were able to deliver items based on the demographics of the different locations. You could really tailor it. They felt pretty good with us being so sensitive to include those types of items in the bags. But we went even further with respect to culture difference by providing recipes for the things that were in the bags. We service over 60 independent-living locations, and they represent cultures across the spectrum.
Did the Funds to Feeds Grant and your project support new community leaders?
I saw it in my own organization. What I learned in the pandemic was don't lower your expectations to meet your performance. Raise your level of performance to meet your expectations. I saw that happening in my organization and many others. You really didn't have funding to bring on additional people, and a lot of times you had to lay people off, people on furlough. So, it was these people that were inside that rose up. They became the new leaders. What I learned from the pandemic is that my team is resilient and adaptable in being able to make change and wear a variety of hats.
Why is this work important to your community? In other words, how will this impact future generations?
The work introduces healthy, nutritional food to the population in highest need. Poverty-related lifestyle factors directly impact health and well-being. That’s why it’s so important for us to promote healthy eating. By actively distributing fresh produce to the community, we're focusing on changing their diet and reducing the risk of chronic diseases. It really is just about reducing hunger, improving nutrition and providing health education.
We're serious about helping to combat food insecurity. We were able to get a refrigerated trailer, provided by the BHHS Legacy Foundation, to help store produce so we can feed more people. We already had a refrigerated van that was provided by BHHS Legacy Foundation.
What is one thing you learned from this past year?
The key thing I learned from the pandemic was to just stay focused on our mission. Our purpose is to make sure no senior goes to bed hungry. This is our space, and we were there month after month after month. We still are.