WILLISTON COMMUNITY FOOD SHELF

“I want to be here more,” he said. “It’s something to do, and more fun than anything.”

Feeding Chittenden was launched in 1974 as the Chittenden County Emergency Food Shelf but rebranded to its current name in 2019, to indicate it was offering broader services. It has relocated twice over the years, most recently in 1994, expanding all facets of the operation in response to a growing need for food relief.

“It’s all exciting, you know. We’ve continued to innovate and we’re not stagnant,” McMahon said. “We’re not just doing the same-old-same-old over the last nine years that I’ve been with the organization.”

Part of that development has been its Community Kitchen Academy, where chefs train aspiring culinary artists, helping both in and out of the kitchen with reading over resumes, interview

“We’re really trying to reduce those reasons why people aren’t coming in to get food,” McMahon said, “whether that’s transportation or stigma or a language barrier.”

The work of providing for a diverse range of people, many of them among Vermont’s most marginalized, is “tough but definitely worthwhile,” McMahon said. But the fact there is a need for that work at all is disappointing for many at the hunger relief institution.

“It’s sad when organizations like this have to exist,” she said. “We used to say, ‘Oh, we hope to work ourselves out of a job.’ But that just doesn’t really seem feasible at this point.”

Feeding Chittenden works closely with City Market Co-op in Burlington to help with fundraising initiatives and community outreach. Co-op members can earn up to 12 percent off their grocery bill by volunteering four hours per month at Feeding Chittenden. The market has the same arrangement with two dozen com-