1,700 Holiday Meals Available This Week

A partnership of Capstone Community Action in Barre and Shift Meals, the central Vermont hub of Vermont Everyone Eats, has distributed over 155,000 meals in 2021 alone. This holiday, over 1,700 additional meals were added to the roster in central Vermont over the past two weeks, either served as hot lunches, available frozen, or added to shares at local food shelves.

Below are locations where holiday-themed meals are available to the public this week:

● Cabot Faith in Action, Ready-to-eat holiday-themed meals, Nov. 23, 12–2 p.m., 3339 Main St, Cabot, VT 05647.

● Worcester Food Shelf, Holiday-themed meals (frozen), Nov. 24, 1–2 p.m., 20 Worcester Village Road, Worcester, VT 05682.

● Enough Ministries Food Shelf, Holiday-themed meals, sandwiches, and soups, Nov. 23 and Nov. 26, 10 a.m.–12 p.m., 24 Washington St., Barre, VT 05641.

● National Life, Holiday meal distribution, Nov. 24, registration needed, call 802-229-7300.

● Salvation Army Barre, Holiday-themed hot lunch, Nov. 26, 11:45 a.m.–1 p.m., 25 Keith Ave, Barre, VT 05641.

“Vermont Everyone Eats celebrates all of the farmers, restaurants, diners, and helpers who have collectively built this incredible community program over the last year. Through our innovative COVID-19 response program, our partnerships have generated over $22 million in revenue for Vermont restaurants, who in turn have prepared 1.8 million nourishing meals highlighting ingredients from Vermont farmers and food producers for neighbors experiencing food insecurity. Vermont Everyone Eats is only possible because of the countless individuals who have stepped forward to help one another in times of need. “Get involved by contacting Capstone Community Action and visit vteveryoneeats.org to share the love,” said Jean Hamilton, Vermont’s Everyone Eats statewide coordinator.

Capstone Community Action works to overcome poverty by serving people in crisis and creating economic opportunity for people and communities. Capstone’s programs include emergency food, heating assistance, housing counseling and homelessness intervention, savings and credit coaching, business counseling, workforce development, home weatherization, transportation access, and child and family development programs in Early Head Start/Head Start. Capstone serves over 10,600 people through these programs each year. Visit www.capstonevt.org.

ShiftMeals, sponsored by the Skinny Pancake, creates a safety net for the food insecure by providing meals and gardens to our communities and effectively advocating for legislation to scale this model. To learn more, visit www.shiftmeals.org

Vermont Everyone Eats is an innovative program that provides nutritious meals to Vermonters in need of food assistance as well as a stabilizing source of income for Vermont restaurants, farmers, and food producers. In July 2020, Vermont lawmakers allocated funds to launch the program from the Coronavirus Relief Fund, and the program was subsequently extended with funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. To learn more, visit vteveryoneeats.org