After the pandemic cancelled volunteer events in 2020 while also increasing food insecurity in the community, we are eager to get back to the farm and to support Gaining Ground’s mission. We are very grateful for the grant from MIT Community Service Fund!
In 2019, MIT Lincoln Laboratory volunteers, recruited by the PACE Health & Wellness subcommittee, enjoyed two Saturday mornings working together at the Gaining Ground Farm. “We harvested sugar snap peas, weeded an onion patch, spread compost, and thinned rows of carrot seedlings. After the pandemic cancelled volunteer events in 2020 while also increasing food insecurity in the community, we were eager to get back to the farm and to support Gaining Ground’s mission. We are very grateful for the service grant from MIT Community Service Fund!” expressed Joan Boegel, Environment Health and Safety Office, who organized the volunteer activity in 2020.
Gaining Ground is a three-acre non-profit organic farm in Concord that grows vegetables and fruit with the help of several thousand community volunteers and donates all of this fresh food to area hunger relief programs and food pantries.
Reflecting on the group’s day at Gaining Ground, Joan conveyed “I think it was a great opportunity to be out in nature with the community as well as with my fellow colleagues to understand better how farming works with such an incredibly knowledgeable crew.”
