It was a Monday at 8:50 a.m. when Marla Adelsberger picked me up to collect surplus food in Springfield and East Longmeadow.
Suffield retiree and Rachel’s Table volunteer Marla Adelsberger has helped pick up and distribute surplus food for nearly five years.
Adelsberger is a Suffield resident who volunteers for Rachel’s Table, a Springfield nonprofit that rescues food from Western Massachusetts restaurants, caterers, convenience and grocery stores. According to its website, the organization distributes surplus food to over 65 facilities, including “food pantries, shelters, after-school programs, community meals, and more.”
Our first stop was Sinai Temple in Springfield, where we collected five trays of left-over chicken, rice, string beans, frozen chicken, oranges and part of a cake, apparently from an event the previous day. We estimated the weight at 50 lbs. Later, we stopped at a Stop & Shop to pick up 15 lbs. of rolls, bagels and other baked goods. Four Pride convenience stores provided 65 lbs. of cold cuts, prepared sandwiches, yogurt, vegetables, salads, grinders, cheese and more. A Pizza Hut handed over 18 personal pan pizzas and nine bread stick servings that weighed 15 lbs.
Lessons learned
What struck me was the respect shown to Adelsberger by the store and department managers. They greeted her with a smile; some offered to help carry food to her Honda Fit. All thanked her for coming. They seemed to show genuine appreciation for Rachel’s Table’s mission and Adelsberger’s contribution.
I, too, was moved. It was not until I lifted aluminum pans filled with chicken, and small shopping bags packed with turkey sandwiches and lunch salads that I realized they would have all been trashed had it not been for Rachel’s Table. My thoughts turned to my late Greek grandmother, who chided us in broken English as kids not to waste food because it was a sin.
In just two hours, we collected nearly 150 pounds of food and delivered it to Springfield’s Center for Human Development.
According to Rachel’s Table’s website, over 200 volunteers pick up surplus food in Hampshire, Hampden, and Franklin Counties in Mass. and occasionally in Hartford County. The non-profit doesn’t have a warehouse. Food is picked up Sunday through Friday and delivered the same day–925,000 pounds in 2024, according to its recent newsletter to volunteers.
Additional services
Rachel’s Table also offers other programs to help people with food insecurity. At times, it purchases food. Working with area agencies such as Christina’s House in Springfield, a shelter for women and children, Adelsberger and other volunteers teach residents how to garden and prepare dishes from their plantings. Rachel’s Table also hosts gleaning events at area farms, including Easy Pickin’s in Enfield and Oxen Hill Farm in Suffield. Gleaning is the ancient practice of collecting leftover produce from harvested fields.
On a recent WWLP broadcast, Rachel’s Table’s Executive Director Jodi Falk said the nonprofit held 56 gleaning events in 2024 and helped plant 10 gardens throughout Hampden County.
She said the nonprofit would soon purchase a second refrigerated box truck. According to the volunteer newsletter, the first truck delivered 452,000 lbs of food in 2024.
Sustainability benefit
The newsletter also noted that Rachel’s Table’s food rescue effort last year prevented the creation of 1,789 tons of greenhouse gas because the food wasn’t landfilled. Likewise, the non-profit figured it saved 106.2 million gallons of water needed to grow the food from being wasted, had the food been thrown away.
Falk said Rachel’s Table is always looking for volunteers for tasks such as driving, gleaning, office administration and gardening. For more information, visit feedwma.org.