Kelly Johnson
Kelly Johnson erased the line between personal and professional duties when it comes to fighting food insecurity. The list of organizations she works with in this fight are the largest philanthropic private companies and some of the largest advocacy organizations in the state of Massachusetts.
On the clock or on the weekend, Kelly is taking care of her neighbors.
And yours. And mine.
Kelly wants to end food insecurity, in her community and yours, with organizations like End Hunger New England and Community Harvest Project.
Photo: Stephanie C. Olsen
Our conversation begins here:
Tell me what it is about anti-poverty—when did you first feel this was a personal calling for you?
As a 24-year-old single mother, I attended my first community college course. I enjoyed history and sociology, learning about my neighbors and the generations before. I joined a club with my paralegal major classmates. Together, we hosted a food drive, my very first exposure to volunteerism. In 2008, my journey with food security began.
We hosted a collection table outside of the college cafe. We had posters, and colorful boxes, and we all brought our own donations to draw attention to our efforts. People were generous, happy to lend a hand, and showed their appreciation for being able to do their little part to make a difference. I don’t remember how much food and money we collected, but the pantry was grateful for our efforts. I was moved by how proud every person involved felt while they were giving what they could.
When I continued my education at the local university, I found more opportunities to get involved. Another club focusing on hunger relief volunteered at the soup kitchen weekly, cooking and serving meals. My son and I were happy not to worry about two hot meals a week. I loved serving our neighbors, eating with the other volunteers, and watching my son wipe down tables and chairs after everyone had eaten. Food security has presented itself as the backbone of volunteerism for me since day one.
In 2012, I volunteered with The Outreach Program, locally known as End Hunger NE. Bulk grains, soy, rice, beans, vegetables, and noodles are scooped through a funnel, weighed, and sealed into family serving-sized bags. The flavor packs in the 10 varieties of meals are fortified with 21 vitamins and minerals. After a few hours, pallets of healthy meals are ready for neighbors across New England. When you leave your 2-3 hour shift, you know that tomorrow people will eat because of your efforts.
Food insecurity is the lack of access to healthy foods to lead an active lifestyle
1 in 3 households & 1 in 5 seniors in Massachusetts faced food insecurity in 2023 (The Greater Boston Food Bank and Mass General Brigham)
44% of public college and university students live in a food insecure household (The Greater Boston Food Bank and Mass General Brigham)
Food insecurity leads to poor health outcomes including hypertension, diabetes, and obesity (Feeding America)
Today, I am the Community Engagement Assistant at Community Harvest Project. Our nonprofit farm’s mission is to engage and educate volunteers to grow fruits and vegetables for local hunger relief. This year, more than 6000 volunteers will plant, tend to, and harvest produce that will be distributed by 26 community partners. Hundreds of thousands of pounds of nutritious fruits and vegetables will fill the stomachs of hungry neighbors over the next few months.
How do you bring joy and enthusiasm into a mission that is often weighed down by sadness?
I think no matter what mission pulls at your heartstrings, the desire to get involved comes from the knowledge that you will make a difference for someone. People are experiencing hardships and making tough decisions no matter what they’re going through in life. Even a small act will send a ripple of goodness further than we can imagine.
When you think about celebrations in life, there’s almost always food involved. Food brings people together, crosses bridges, it engages people in cultures that they’ve never been involved with before.
Coming together as volunteers, at the end of the day you know you really made a difference. You put your head on the pillow at the end of the night, thankful people know their neighbors cared enough to come together to do the hard work, to raise the money, to put the time in. Even though it’s not easy to comprehend what other people might be suffering with, the joy comes from your neighbor resting a little easier today because their heart and their stomach are full.
What have you noticed, if anything, has changed throughout the years in the anti-poverty movement? What changed in volunteerism and policy?
One of the beautiful things about End Hunger NE is the director, Matthew, is wonderful at keeping track of the statistics in our communities, in our state, in the northeast. From 12 years ago until 2019, we continued to see food insecurity numbers decrease, year over year. We knew that with every person who showed up, with every dollar that was donated, we were making an impact to reduce hunger in our communities. And then the pandemic hit. Hunger more than doubled. People who never thought they would experience food insecurity suddenly were faced with the loss of jobs, furloughs, a reduction in hours. We saw hunger double basically overnight.
How do we let people know that this is happening to our neighbors? How do we continue to engage people?
Every time you bring up an organization you care about, there will be people who have never heard of the mission. Continuing to educate people that there are organizations doing incredible work. It doesn’t matter which mission you find passion for. There can never be enough people doing this work. Maybe it wasn’t a priority in the past, then suddenly, it came to be that someone they loved needed it, or they just heard those staggering statistics. So that’s kind of where the change has come.
Through no fault of our own, anyone may find themselves or someone they love without access to a nutritious meal. In 2023, 1 in 3 people in Massachusetts faced this reality at some point, with hunger affecting certain demographics more than others. In the U.S., approximately 60% of our food goes to waste, yet people don’t have the resources to access nutritional, affordable foods.
What I love about Massachusetts is that we now have many schools participating in the free lunch and breakfast programs. Every student has a free meal for breakfast and lunch. No matter what tough life a child may have, they’re not going to have trouble learning because of an empty belly. As neighbors, we should make sure that’s one thing children won’t have to worry about. This progress is incredible, with people continuing to find unique ways to solve these problems. Unfortunately, that will never go away fully but we can continue to work together and let people know that we support them.
You spoke of kids going to school and having their education hampered because they felt hungry. Walk me through a scenario: A seventh grader goes to school hungry. Tell me what happens with hunger.
When they wake up, say at 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning, the first thing to come to their mind may be, “What did I eat last night? Is my belly growling now? What will be the first thing that I will eat today?” If they don’t have access to much at home, they may immediately think, “Where is my next meal coming from?” When they arrive at school without access to free breakfast, the hunger will stay with them for hours. A light grumble of the belly can take away from their concentration and may cause embarrassment. There are children being turned away from school lunch because they owe a few dollars.
At the end of the school day, they’re repeating to themselves, “Where is my next meal coming from?” At least if they know that tomorrow school is going to feed them two times again, I believe it will impact them for years to come. We are reminding our children that they matter, their futures matter, their days matter. They will be the next generation to make a difference and say, “I don’t want anyone else to go through what I did. My community supported me. I am going to make a difference, too.” I find that in this world, the people who are the most generous are often the people who have the littlest to share.
There’s a social experiment where someone who is well dressed has a large pizza sitting in front of them, and you say, “I’m hungry, could I get a slice of that pizza?” They may not share with you. But if you see someone who looks like they aren’t doing well for themselves and they have a slice of pizza in front of them and you say, “I’m hungry, do you have any to share?” They very well may give that slice up for you. They know what that feels like.
For them to make a difference for this person right now, it really shows you how food can bring people together.
One of the things about food poverty that isn’t always well-known, are the qualifications needed to be eligible for services. What would qualify someone to walk into a food pantry? How does it work?
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is income-based, completing a form to verify their needs. Some things we need to consider are: Do they have time to go fill out the form? Do they have transportation to get to the office? Do they live where there’s insufficient public transportation? Is there a grocery store near them? Do they live in a food desert? Is the region inaccessible to a food pantry? There are so many barriers present when it comes to an individual accessing needed resources.
What we’re finding is that even in a more affluent community, they often have a food pantry. That food pantry, that town, is helping people from countless dozens of other communities. When it comes to qualifying, one person may need to visit a few food pantries just to be able to fill their cupboard. Most food pantries have a once a month visit policy. A recent report from the Greater Boston Food Bank indicated that 44% of public college students live in a food insecure household. How does a college student at 18, 19, or 20 years old say, “I should go to my food pantry, see if they can help me” or, “I should apply for food stamps.” That’s not necessarily their mindset. To see community colleges and universities come together and create food pantries provides access for people of multiple generations who are educating themselves.
We may not know when people come into times of unknown troubles, or that there may be multiple generations living in one household. Picture this: There’s a lovely husband and wife. They have worked hard. They decide to start a family. One of their children has health complications. The parents say it’s not feasible to put the child in daycare. They need additional assistance. And now one parent is staying home, reducing that income. And the other parent might pick up a second job to provide for the family. What happens if one of their parents, an elder, needs to move into that household? The term for this is “The Sandwich Generation.” Now you have another mouth to feed, another medical bill coming in. There is one individual supporting a youth, a spouse, and a parent on one income. We don’t know what that individual looks like, they could work their butt off. Show up on time. Being everything that you imagine your neighbor to be, and you have no idea what their home life is going through and what assistance is helpful for them.
During COVID maybe they lost their six figure income.
When you say six-figure income, that could be a tradesperson who was in HVAC and suddenly was not allowed to go into buildings and got furloughed. They were making six figures, often taking overtime. The stigma behind applying for the benefits that are needed—that pride is tough to overcome for some people. So let’s lower that barrier. Let’s remind them that food is a basic level of necessity. And even though you need help today, one day you will pay that forward. So let us take care of you for a little while, because then you’ll be better off to then be able to take care of your neighbors again.
BE A CATALYST
Inspired by Kelly? Here are ways you can get involved with her mission:
GROW Help grow, tend, and harvest fruits and vegetables, with Community Harvest Project, for our neighbors experiencing hunger.
PACK meals at with End Hunger NE warehouse for a 2-hour shift.
DELIVER cases of meals from EHNE to local pantries.
ADOPT A ROW/TREE from Community Harvest Project. This is a fun way to support our work, and it’s a powerful and tangible solution to food insecurity in our community.
DONATE A CASE OF FOOD for just $80, and 36 families will receive nutritionally fortified meals from End Hunger NE that are easy to prepare.
FOLLOW US on social media (End Hunger NE and Community Harvest Project). Share our stories and our posts. Talk to your family and friends and have meaningful conversations about the needs of those in your community who face food insecurity.
