Jess Fraga, our Education and Career Advisor in Ware, had a great idea: we can collaborate with the Mobile Food Pantry and get the word out about our classes at the same time, by providing the pantry with Literacy Project grocery bags!

We showed up at Ware’s Grenville Park on a rainy day in April with 200 bags, ready to help stock the bags and distribute the food.

First to arrive was a large truck from the Western Mass. Food Bank, bringing pallets of potatoes, onions, bananas, avocados, yogurt, and more. They set up tents and tables and created an instant pop-up “store.” As cars started to line up to collect their bags of groceries, volunteers streamed in, ready to pack the bags full of food. The experienced volunteers created an efficient system, and within an hour, we had all the bags packed and were ready to load up the cars.

Thanks, Jess, for creating an opportunity for The Literacy Project to serve the community in a new way while letting folks know about our free classes. We’ll be ordering more bags and showing up again to stock them full of groceries for our neighbors in need.