Food insecurity and malnutrition threaten health, cognition, emotional regulation, and wellbeing for people of all ages, and the consequences are especially impactful for our most vulnerable populations. Because they are at such a crucial stage of development, children are the most impacted by a lack of access to a healthy and well-balanced diet.

The types of community disadvantages that our cities face can have a profound negative impact on their residents, especially in the areas of health and nutrition. Compounding this are low-income, urban settings where fast food is cheap and readily available, and few grocery stores and restaurants offer healthy affordable foods.

Many families in our region struggle to put food on the table, gain steady employment, or afford key essentials. Families face the difficult task of having to cut "extras" from their budget, which can include after-school programs and activities for their children.

According to Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s 2022 National Youth Outcomes Initiative survey distributed to our Club members in April 2022,

83%
of our members
report eating fruit
at least once a day

72%
of our members
report eating vegetables
at least once a day

88%
of our members
are active for 60+ minutes at least two days per week

Freight Farms

Our commitment to serving our community extends far beyond our Clubhouses. We have devoted extensive resources to fully optimizing our Freight Farms urban farming system. We currently operate three Freight Farms—hydroponic container farms outfitted entirely within standard shipping containers—with one at our Taunton Camp Riverside location and one at each of our Clubhouses. Over the past few years, we have worked to optimize production processes to ensure maximum efficiency and output as we work to combat food insecurity in two of the harshest food deserts in Massachusetts.