Boston CAN Share

Welcome to the holiday season and happy “Giving Tuesday”! As we did last year, Bowdoin Street Health Center is helping to collect non-perishable food donations as part of the annual Boston CAN Share. The citywide drive helps to support food pantries across the city and to support Boston Bounty Bucks, the program which helps to provide low-income families with access to healthy fresh foods by doubling their SNAP benefits at farmers’ markets. Residents of Bowdoin Geneva have much to gain through each of our support of these critical services.

Donated food can be placed in the marked box in the BSHC Community Health office at any time or can be contributed during the Food in the ‘Hood Meeting on December 12th at 6pm.  We will continue to accept donations through Wednesday, January 2nd.

2012 Season in Review

The 2012 season was a record-breaking success for the Bowdoin Geneva Farmers Market.  Sales at the market tripled from around $5,000 in 2011 to almost $16,000.  Likewise, on average 170 individuals visited the market each week, up from 120 last year.  The market’s growth this year, alongside the successes in our other programs (including our Farm to Family subsidized farm share and our small-scale Farm to Store initiative) have led to an overall increase in the value of fresh, locally-produced food distributed in the Bowdoin Geneva neighborhood from $20,225 in 2011 to $34,195 in 2012, representing an increase of almost 70%.  Read the complete end-of-season report here.

Thank you to everyone who came out and shopped this season, and especially to our amazing vendors: City Harvest – Trustees of Reservations, Heavens Harvest Organic Farm, and Cape Cod Fish Share.  We couldn’t have done it without your help!

Please join us as we plan for next season and work together to bring affordable, healthy food to Bowdoin Geneva.  The Food in the ‘Hood Committee meets the second Wednesday of each month from 6-7:30pm at the Bowdoin Street Health Center.  Our first meeting of the off-season will be held on November 14th.  Hope to see you there!

In the meantime, we hope you’ll enjoy these wonderful photos of an incredible season at the farmers market.  We look forward to seeing you again in June 2013!

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Food Day 2012

Today is Food Day, a nationwide celebration and a movement toward healthy, affordable and sustainable food.  Across the country today (and throughout this week), communities are coming together to dedicate themselves to these principles.   In Bowdoin Geneva, we’ll be celebrating tomorrow, October 25th with our End-of-Season Bonanza at the farmers market where you can join us in making a community-wide pledge to support good food in the heart of Dorchester.  You can also make a personal pledge to “Eat Real”…

Food Pantry at St. Mary’s

My weeks of working are full of fun and new experiences, but none of those moments compare to when I help out the volunteers at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church on Tuesdays. Every Tuesday, I go to the church for two hours and assist in handing out emergency food to families in need. The food is provided by the Greater Boston Food Bank, and they bring things such as eggs, milk, meats, and other produce. The people I work with are happy to be there and they joke around with each other while we are waiting for people to arrive, which makes the day much better. When I finally get to distribute the food, the people are so happy, and their appreciation for my help makes me feel as if I am accomplishing one of my goals to help people.

Farm Deliveries to Neighborhood Stores

Working at the Bowdoin Street Health Center as a youth intern, I have realized how much more my job offers to the community. As a youth intern it is my job to go out to the community and take orders from the corners stores on Bowdoin St. and Geneva Ave. You’re probably thinking right now “Oh that’s an easy job”, but I can guarantee you there is more to the job. The job is about expanding healthy food within the community. Now what does that mean? It means that as an intern it is my job to get orders from the stores and make sure I deliver it to them also. Not only this, but make sure that the store owners are satisfied with what they have bought. You don’t want to give them the wrong order or rotten things because it would be a bad reputation to the Bowdoin Geneva Farmers Market. We want to keep our consumers happy and satisfied.