Good Monday morning!
Ed. note: The next edition of Your Daily Phil will arrive on Monday, Aug. 21.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on the spinning off of a food insecurity nonprofit in Massachusetts, and feature op-eds from Avrum Lapin and Dr. Hal Lewis. Also in today’s newsletter: Oprah Winfrey, MacKenzie Scott and Antonia Steinberg.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of households in Massachusetts experiencing hunger doubled, to 16.8%; afterwards, as COVID crisis funding vanished and food prices rose, a local food justice program in the state is increasing the quantity and quality of available healthy food, especially through gleaning from and growing with the community.
Rachel’s Table has existed as a program of the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts since its founding 30 years ago. Now, a year after the federation’s board of trustees approved its spinoff, it is functioning as an independent stand-alone organization, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Esther D. Kustanowitz reports. The process of transition to becoming a fully independent entity as well as a constituent agency receiving support and partnering with the federation to serve the local community took roughly a year.
The Western Massachusetts federation serves approximately 35,000 Jewish residents, according to its CEO, Nora Gorenstein, although Rachel’s Table’s programs are available to anyone, regardless of their religious affiliation or lack thereof.
There was “a clear need” for the program to become an independent nonprofit, Gorenstein told eJP. “It enables Rachel’s Table to focus on its specific mission, which is related closely to the mission of the Jewish Federation, but is distinct in its focus on food and individuals, not only in our Jewish community, but all individuals in need in our community,” she said.
Read the full story here.
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