YEAR IN REVIEW
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LETTER FROM OUR CEO
This past year wore heavy. First and most of all, I have been humbled by the resilience and endurance of the households we serve. I also feel a deep sense of pride and gratitude for our team and our collaborators and their unrelenting commitment to our mission, dogged hard work, fast-thinking, and selflessness.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, our work countered the daily reality that nearly one million Massachusetts residents did not have access to the food they needed to be healthy and secure. In 2020, under duress and constraint, we devised new partnerships and invented more efficient and far-reaching programs. We are encouraged that our work through 2020 has contributed to lasting gains in our programs’ quality and greater trust and cooperation with our healthcare partners, community leaders, and the City of Boston.
In 2021, we’re doubling down on our effort to support our shoppers who continue to endure food insecurity. Since our start as a service organization, we have concentrated on protecting the health of our shoppers by countering unequal access to affordable, healthy food across Boston communities. Our programs were designed to alleviate symptoms and consequences without addressing the oppressive systems and underlying causes of food insecurity. We are now positioned to reshape our food system systematically. Looking ahead, we know we must change and hold these systems accountable to achieve real food equity.
2020 reminded us that we still have much work to do, and we’re all in.
JOSH TRAUTWEIN
Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer
About Fresh is on a mission to strengthen communities by getting healthy food to the households that need it the most.
About Fresh
We are about community, food, & health.
OUR PROGRAMS
Fresh Truck Mobile Markets collaborate with community partners, offering diverse produce selections that reflect the cultures and traditions of the communities we serve.
Fresh Box delivers food to communities throughout Boston, most impacted by the pandemic.
Fresh Connect is a turn-key program built for healthcare partners to directly invest in their patients’ health by covering the cost of healthy food.
COMING TOGETHER IN CRISIS
The COVID-19 crisis further undermined and amplified the pre-existing food insecurity crisis within our communities. Neighbors became more isolated in their homes and witnessed their food sources diminish due to food budget and employment changes.
Almost immediately, the economic and logistical impacts within our communities were felt and seen. The number of food-insecure households grew rapidly while new and existing barriers were multiplied, making it more difficult to shop for and access food safely. About Fresh responded quickly to meet growing needs, focusing on sustainable programs that could support our community throughout the pandemic. We mobilized our mission and built new systems to get healthy food safely to people who needed it most.
Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital
Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital enrolled 1,626 patients in Fresh Box delivery at COVID testing sites. Giving patients the resources and sense of security to stay-at-home and reduce the spread.
Thanks to this partnership, we delivered 18,988 Fresh Boxes to patients’ doorsteps and testing sites, lifting a tremendous burden for households experiencing food insecurity with no other food delivery options.
“[Fresh Box] is the one thing that’s keeping me together because my limited income only goes towards my bills, and I don’t have any extra money left over for food. So what you give me is really keeping me alive. Thank you so very much.”
— NANCY, FRESH BOX RECIPIENT
Fresh Truck Mobile Market Locations
Mobile Market Redesign
This year pushed us to develop safe and creative ways to continue delivering on our mission and serve our shoppers. We were absolutely committed to getting fresh food to Boston residents and made the necessary market operation and design modifications to accommodate COVID safety best practices and protect our staff and shoppers.
Fresh Truck Open-Air market design allowed shoppers to place and pick up produce orders outside of the Fresh Truck while staff and volunteers packaged produce inside. Our mobile markets supported safe social distancing and strengthened our commitment to serving our community. With over $615,00 SNAP/HIP spent at our markets, programs like SNAP and HIP (Healthy Incentives Program) demonstrated the vital role they have in increasing shoppers’ access to the fresh food they and their families need.
Our volunteers stepped up in a big way at the onset of the pandemic by helping to launch the door-to-door delivery of Fresh Boxes. They showed up six days a week, used their personal vehicles to deliver fresh produce to people who needed it most.
“As a recent retiree and avid volunteer I was looking for a meaningful opportunity, and found it with Fresh Truck. I have been with them since June 2019. I find much satisfaction and appreciation in aiding in their mission of getting fresh food to those who need it. I look forward to seeing the workers, customers and volunteers every week.”
Sandy Silbert
Fresh Truck Volunteer
121 Hours Volunteering
“Personally, I really like the idea of encouraging people to eat more healthfully. I’ll always remember the markets at well below freezing with snow on the ground, and even though we were cold, the commitment of the market managers and the volunteers in those circumstances was just amazing.”
Judith Watson
Fresh Truck Volunteer
176 Hours Volunteering
FRESH CONNECT
Major Milestones
PRE-PAID DEBIT CARD
In 2020, About Fresh launched the development of an upgraded Fresh Connect debit card. Our new card infrastructure will empower Fresh Connect shoppers with the agency to buy the food they want, when they want, and where they want, from farmers’ markets and grocery retailers.
PLATFORM HIPAA COMPLIANCE
Fresh Connect now operates a HIPAA-compliant analytic platform, facilitating end-to-end program administration and impact measurement while providing real-time transaction data for healthcare teams to evaluate the return on investment and program impact on the health of their patients.
Brigham Medicaid ACO
Fresh Connect is a powerful tool for innovative and patient-centered healthcare partners. This year we launched our three-year partnership with Brigham Medicaid’s Accountable Care Organization (ACO) program as part of MassHealth’s Flexible Services Program, intending to reach more than 3,000 patients.
Through the Flexible Services Program, MassHealth’s ACOs pilot evidence-based approaches that address patient health-related social needs, improve health outcomes and reduce the total cost of health care for the member.
“Our partnership with About Fresh has been instrumental for helping our high-risk and food-insecure patients. During the COVID-19 pandemic, About Fresh was able to pivot and successfully deliver fresh and healthy food directly to patients’ homes and supported communities across Greater Boston by supplying fresh produce to community COVID testing sites for distribution [...] They’re our vehicle to providing fresh and healthy foods to so many of our patients, and we are extremely proud of our partnership.”
— Charline Gay, MPH Program Manager, Brigham Medicaid ACO
Our Partners
ABCD DORCHESTER
ABCD WALNUT GROVE
ABCD MATTAPAN
BETH ISRAEL DEACONESS MEDICAL CENTER
BMC HEALTHNET PLAN
BOSTON HOUSING AUTHORITY
BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER
BOWDOIN STREET HEALTH CENTER
BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF BOSTON
BRIGHAM & WOMEN’S FAULKNER HOSPITAL
BRIGHAM MEDICAID ACO PROGRAM
CAMP HARBOR VIEW
CHARLES RIVER COMMUNITY HEALTH
CHARLES STREET AME CHURCH
CHARLESNEWTOWN APARTMENTS (WINNCO)
CHARLESTOWN BHA
CHURCH OF CHRIST ROXBURY
CHURCH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
CITY OF BOSTON AGE STRONG COMMISSION
CITY OF BOSTON OFFICE OF FOOD ACCESS
CODMAN SQUARE COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER
COLLEGE FOR SOCIAL INNOVATION
COMMUNITY CARE COOPERATIVE
DANIEL DRISCOLL NEPONSET HEALTH CENTER
DOTHOUSE HEALTH CENTER
EAST BOSTON NEIGHBORHOOD HEALTH CENTER
FAMILY NURTURING CENTER
FANEUIL GARDENS BHA
FRANKLIN FIELD BHA
HERITAGE APARTMENTS
INQUILINOS BORICUAS EN ACCION
LENOX/CAMDEN STREET APARTMENTS
MATTAPAN FAMILY SERVICE CENTER
MARY ELLEN MCCORMACK BHA
MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL CHARLESTOWN
MASSHOUSING
NEW ENGLAND UNITED 4 JUSTICE (NEU4J)
MORNING STAR BAPTIST CHURCH
PATRICIA WHITE APARTMENTS
PATRICK J. KENNEDY SCHOOL
ROXBURY TENANTS OF HARVARD
THE BASE
THOMAS MENINO YMCA
UNITED HOUSING MANAGEMENT PROPERTIES
THE VILLAGE AT BROOKLINE
URBAN EDGE
VILLA VICTORIA
WASHINGTON BEECH APARTMENTS
WEST BROADWAY BHA
Our Team
ADAM SHYEVITCH - Chief Program Officer
ALHAJI JALLOH - Operations Assistant, Fresh Truck
ANASTASIA SALDIVAR-CHRISTILLES - Market Manager, Fresh Truck
ANDREA SCARFO - Market Manager, Fresh Truck
BENJAMIN DIAZ - Market Manager, Fresh Truck
CANUMA DAHABA - Operations Assistant, Fresh Truck
CARLOS NUÑEZ - Director of Finance & Administration
CASEY HOGAN - Program Manager, Fresh Box
CORBIN GEARHART - Program Coordinator, Fresh Connect
FRANCELINO MARIME - Operations Manager, Fresh Truck
INGRID MONTOYA - Operations Assistant, Fresh Truck
JESUS MORALES - Operations Assistant, Fresh Truck
JOSH TRAUTWEIN - CEO, Co-Founder
LINDA PUOPOLO - Finance Director
LORRIN VAN EVRA - Development Manager
MEGAN HUANG - Program Director, Fresh Truck
MICHAEL LANTOW - Program Director, Fresh Connect
NOAH NEWTON - Operations Assistant, Fresh Truck
STEPHEN JAMES - Program Coordinator, Fresh Truck
VICTOR MATTA - Lead Market Manager, Fresh Truck
VICTORIA STRICKLAND - Director of Communications & Partnerships
Our Board
MICHAEL CARMEN - Equity Portfolio Manager, Wellington Management
EDWARD FISH - Vice President, Bay State Milling
TED KATSIROUBAS - CEO, Katsiroubas Bros Produce
DAVID MCCREADY - President, Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital
MIKE MINAHAN - Partner, Goodwin Procter LLP
ANNIKA MORGAN - Co-Founder, About Fresh
BEN PERKINS - CEO, Wholesome Wave
NATE SOLDER - Offensive Lineman, New York Giants
JOSH TRAUTWEIN - CEO + Co-Founder, About Fresh
DOUGLASS WILLIAMS - Chef + Owner, MIDA
Our Supporters
See our full list of donors & volunteers
“Our joining with About Fresh to help address food insecurity for our patients and our broader community is a natural and welcomed extension of our mission, one that not only addresses food insecurity but also the inequities in health care access and health outcomes for the communities we serve.
We at BWFH believe that food security is a basic human right, and we are committed to doing our part to help. I am proud of our hospital’s partnership with About Fresh, and I am humbled to play a small part in the honorable work of this noble organization as a board member.”
— David O. McCready
President, Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital
Financials
OUR REVENUE BY YEAR
Mission Expansion
THE YEAR AHEAD
The economic, racial, cultural, and gender disparities in food access are not natural or inevitable. Unequal access to food is brought on by a failure of our economic and political systems and the oppression of people and cultures.
About Fresh is expanding our mission to disrupt the systems that govern food insecurity. We are putting our resources, networks, data, and voice toward constructing a food system that fosters health equity, economic justice, and environmental sustainability. As our mission’s expansion propels us to impact food insecurity on a systemic level, we invite you to push us, inspire us, and build with us.
In 2020, our community showed up, came together, and helped see each other and our community through this pandemic.
Government organizations like the City of Boston, Boston Resiliency Fund, Boston Office of Food Access, and the Age Strong Commission’s support financially transformed our ability to mobilize and respond quickly. Countless community and neighborhood organizations, businesses, healthcare systems, volunteers, staff, board, foundations, individual donors, and supporters invested resources, dollars, talents, and time to help us get food to people who needed it. We can honestly say every single supporter had a role in making this year our most resilient year yet.
We applaud the work of peer organizations around the City that also helped address the food insecurity crisis in Boston in 2020, including City Fresh, YMCA of Greater Boston, The Greater Boston Food Bank, Commonwealth Kitchen, and Boston Area Gleaners. We’re reminded of the change we can make when we work together, and it’s only the beginning. We can’t wait to see the collective impact we’ll make in the continued fight toward true food equity in 2021!
