Food For Free’s Heat-N-Eats program is helping

Hunger is a struggle that can often be invisible at first glance. Christopher Hope, Founder and CEO of Loop Lab – a BIPOC led nonprofit social enterprise that specializes in media arts internships and digital storytelling in Greater Boston – has experienced first-hand how becoming more intimately aware of the gaps in food access has allowed him to identify food insecurity amongst his students.

In February, Hope and his staff at Loop Lab began volunteering monthly at Food For Free, the leading food rescue and distribution organization in Eastern Massachusetts, taking donated bulk prepared dishes that were rescued from local dining halls and repackaging them into single-meals that would later be delivered to members of the community in need through the nonprofit’s Heat-N-Eats program.

Through this experience, Hope and his team became more attuned to the challenges and nuances of food insecurity, creating a more heightened ability to recognize and identify when someone is experiencing this in their own lives. This fall, the very same program his team volunteers for is now helping to feed his own students with on-demand delivery of single-serving prepared meals from Food For Free.

“You can’t often tell a person is hungry by looking at them,” says Sam McDermott, Heat-N-Eats Program Manager at Food For Free. “As the cost of living continues to rise, we want to ensure individuals of all ages, including students, have access to consistent, fresh, and nutritious food. Our partnership with Loop Lab is one example of how we are finding creative ways to reach those in need.”

Food For Free’s Heat-N-Eats program takes prepared food from corporate, university, and hospital dining services and turns it into attractive, balanced, single-serving meals that are distributed to food-insecure populations. These meals are donated through schools, colleges, homeless shelters, and other community programs. The program provides 900 meals per week. In an area like Kendall Square, where Loop Lab is located and where meals can often range from $15 to $20, Heat-N-Eats meals have become a lifeline for apprentices during their lunch break.

“Our partnership with Food For Free is like having a friend always on call,” says Hope. “Our organizational missions blend together in a way that allows us to ultimately create access for those in need, especially those coming from underestimated communities. Eliminating the historically placed barriers for my students is at the forefront of my organization. When we recognized that food insecurity was another challenge our students were facing – Food For Free was the solution to continue creating more opportunity and equity for our students.”

Outside of providing meals for its students, Loop Lab also eliminates a host of other barriers these students face. The organization not only pays students for their time in their apprenticeship, where they are taking classes and learning about the media arts industry, but also subsidizes the cost of public transportation and offers up to 30 college credits for the completion of the program. Upon graduation, many students go straight into the workforce or further explore career opportunities through Loop Lab’s paid internships.