Feeding

continued from page 12 ters before the doors open.

Brandom finishes his day by hitting the road again, this time on the delivery side, handling both emergency and scheduled dropoffs for Chittenden County residents in need — another arm of its work. People in need who leave voicemails and send emails to the organization help him plan out his day. He leads a team of about 10 other delivery drivers who help with smaller food pickups in the latter half of the day.

Feeding Chittenden’s flagship program is the market that Brandom stocks, a pick-and-choose setup open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. People can come in once a week and take anything they need, with options ranging from pork to fresh produce to canned applesauce.

More than 160 volunteers help the 18-person staff with stocking shelves, delivering and picking up food, prepping the kitchen, and filling any other gaps that crop up.

That is where most of the donated food Brandom picks up comes into play. McMahon said the organization also purchases items that are less frequently donated, such as milk and eggs, to ensure people have a lot of good choices.

“It’s very important to us that it’s a dignified experience,” said Ansley Laev, volunteer and receiving coordinator. Feeding Chittenden prides itself on being organized, well stocked and an overall welcoming space for people dealing with food insecurity.

A mural painted by artist Tara Goreau coats the walls around the shelves, with the goal of erasing stigma around seeking food-related help.

Hot breakfast is served every weekday from 9 to 11 a.m. and grab-and-go lunches are offered through the early afternoon. Many people will come in for coffee, eggs, bacon and other early morning staples and, after eating, leave with items from the food shelf, too. An average day sees between 140 and 200 people come into the facilities.

Linda Cooper of Burlington has volunteered with Feeding Chittenden for over 15 years, and has seen the evolution from food shelf to food network firsthand. Before the pandemic hit in March 2020, she was mostly doing cler- ical work — checking people in and handling other computer-based tasks — but switched to stocking after Feeding Chittenden fully reopened in October 2022.

“It’s always been fun,” she said. “The people are my favorite part. I’ve gotten to know some really great people.” prep and, of course, food-based training. munity partners, but Cheray MacFarland, City Market’s director of community and marketing, said Feeding Chittenden is one of the most popular for volunteering and other forms of support.

These days she works closely with fellow volunteer Kevin Newman of Essex Junction, a wheelchair user who has been volunteering with Feeding Chittenden for six years. Cooper puts food items within his reach so he has no difficulties placing them on a shelf. This “accommodating environment” is part of the reason he hopes to go back to two shifts a week — his pre-Covid schedule — instead of the one he works now.

The meals they prepare are made exclusively with donated food, giving the chefs a chance to showcase their creativity and make recipes on the fly. Their creations are served to residents both on-site and, historically, out of Feeding Chittenden’s food truck — a Covid-19 casualty that McMahon said will be back on the road soon.

Nearly 300 people have graduated from the Community Kitchen Academy since 2009, and Feeding Chittenden says 91 percent of them found jobs in the food industry.

Feeding Chittenden has also grown to help people who are experiencing food insecurity, but face access barriers to food pantries or other meal sites. The Food Access Network, launched in 2020, partners Feeding Chittenden with various health care institutions, nonprofits and farms in an online marketplace that helps bridge that gap.

People select what they want using a software program called PantrySoft, personalizing their orders and making sure they get clean, quality food. The network served more than 3,000 people in 2022, mainly migrant farm workers, Head Start families and medical patients, among other disadvantaged groups, the organization says.

Over the past three years, City Market has also donated over $85,000 to Feeding Chittenden as part of its roundup initiative called Rally4Change, as well as about $125,000 worth of food products.

“They are top-of-mind in terms of leading the charge in food in Chittenden County,” MacFarland said. “It’s super important for us to be involved with them, and we’re very proud of it.”