Casually dressed, she, like the other volunteers, worked last Thursday putting food packages inside cars and trunks. Her gray and black shoulder-length hair and slight build were recognizable.
That day, she wasn’t just Rep. Katherine Clark. On that April afternoon, she was part of the free produce market held monthly by the Bedford Veterans’ Association at the Edith Nourse Rogers Veterans’ Hospital.
The Democratic House Minority Whip represents Massachusetts’s 5th District. Last week, she represented everyone, whether within her constituency or beyond.
The need for the food market, held every third Thursday of each month, was evident. The line of waiting automobiles wound its way from the back of Building 61 onto Springs Road. Officials say more than 300 people are served monthly, and 75 more come from Hanscom Air Force Base (HAFB).
“Our veterans have given so much in service to us. It’s an honor and privilege to give back to them,” Clark said. “I was proud to join the Greater Boston Food Bank and VA Bedford to distribute food to these patriots, and I will continue seizing every opportunity to support those who served our country. House Democrats will fight back against every GOP attempt to dismantle the health care, housing, and basic benefits our heroes have earned.”
She was not alone in her support.
Officials and volunteers from Bedford VA Healthcare System hold the monthly free produce market. They work with the Veterans Association Center for Development for Civic Engagement (CDCE) and the Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) to make the event possible.
Last Thursday, more than 49 volunteers ensured that retired, active, reserve, or National Guard veterans received fresh fruits, vegetables, and other essentials. Vets with dogs or cats needn’t worry either. The CDCE gets food packages from the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA) and passes them along.
The CDCE, founded in 1946 and formerly known as the Veterans’ Voluntary Service Program, is the largest volunteer organization in the country, CDCE Specialist Casey Sloan said. The program also helps veterans engage in community-based programs and outreach centers.
Sloan and GBFB Senior Public Policy Manager Kate Adams explained how the food program works.
“I focus on state and federal public policies that support our mission to end hunger,” Adams said.
She then works with Sloan’s team.
“Every month the CDCE gets a donation of produce from the Greater Boston Food Bank,” Sloan said of the now five-year program.
It’s not just about the food, Sloan said. “[It’s] more about promoting healthy eating,” Sloan said. “We also work with our healthy teaching kitchen so folks can learn how to cook those healthy items.”
According to the GBFB website and Adams, it is, “The largest hunger-relief organization in New England and among the largest food banks in the country.”
“Greater Boston Food Bank’s 600 community food providers are responding to an increasing number of households needing food assistance,” Adams said of the food pantries, mobile markets, and meal sites that receive help from the organization.
Those 600 community food providers come from across Eastern Massachusetts and beyond.
“We are more than Greater Boston,” she said of the organization that is also affiliated with Feeding America. “We are up to the New Hampshire border, out to Framingham, and out to the Cape and islands.”
That’s a lot of food and a lot of need.
“We are also facing federal cuts to USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) food. Regardless of our federal food supply, GBFB and our partners are committed to ensuring everyone can keep healthy food on the table.”
Adams, Sloan, the VA, and the Bedford Veterans Association are grateful Clark is highlighting these efforts.
“We appreciate the Congresswoman’s commitment to bringing attention to food insecurity and lifting up policy solutions that support neighbors facing hunger,” Adams said. “She understands that access to healthy food is a right, and we are grateful that she took the time to speak with Veterans, active-duty, reserve, and National Guard service members and lent a hand during our distribution.”
She and others are concerned.
“Currently, there is a harmful proposal that would cut SNAP benefits,” Adams said of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. “When folks have SNAP benefits cut, they turn to the food pantries to make up the difference. The VA and food banks are going to a have huge demand. It’s an already overburdened system.”
While Clark worked last Thursday, she stopped and talked to other volunteers and visitors and even pat an on-duty jet-black, brown-eyed police dog. But mostly, she brought attention to that necessary and overburdened system.
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Original story HERE.