A Word From Our Sr. Public Policy Manager on Hunger Action Month 2024

September is Hunger Action Month, a nationwide campaign designed to inspire people to take action and raise awareness of hunger by donating, volunteering, and advocating for hunger-relief policies. Public policy and advocacy are key components of The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB)’s mission to end hunger across Eastern Massachusetts. To share how GBFB takes action all year round, here’s a word from Kate Adams, our Senior Public Policy Manager. 

What I love about my job at GBFB is that I’m not only advocating for resources that support the immediate needs of people utilizing the charitable food system, but I also use data and ideas from people facing food insecurity to advance sustainable public policies that address the underlying causes of hunger and poverty.  

Our policy and advocacy strategy aims to expand economic opportunity and stability, increase equitable access to and affordability of nourishing food, and strengthen food system infrastructure and coordination so we don’t have one in three children, college students, working parents, and seniors in Massachusetts going without the nutrition they need to thrive. “I’m essentially running myself out of a job,” is how I sometimes describe my work with GBFB. 

This year, we were thrilled to see historic hunger-relief investments in the FY25 state budget that the Healey-Driscoll Administration passed, including: 

• Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Program (MEFAP), which helps GBFB purchase food for our neighbors (from local farmers and food businesses, at that) 

• The Hunger Free Campus Initiative, advanced by a statewide coalition co-led by GBFB 

•  School Meals for All, which will ensure every K-12 student can access meals at school without facing stigma 

Working in hunger relief policy is a bit like planting seeds and watching them grow. Creating policy change can be a slow process, even if you take all the right steps at the right time. But finally seeing the impact of policy in my community—hearing from parents on tight budgets how important free school meals for their kids are, or speaking with a food pantry director about how much their guests appreciate fresh and local produce from MEFAP—reminds me how important it is to keep planting those seeds of change now.  

The next step: we need your help!  We all have a role to play in ending hunger. One in three people experienced food insecurity in the past year in Massachusetts. This Hunger Action Month, we urge you to advocate, donate, and volunteer in your local community.  Sign up for our advocacy alerts and consider donating to help us Fill the Fridge at GBFB with fruit, vegetables, eggs, and other fresh foods for our neighbors in need. We can’t feed Eastern Massachusetts without you.