Outstandingly fresh vegetables will make you a homebody all summer. It's a crime to eat out when…read moreyour pantry is full of such delicious produce. Shares seem a bit pricey when you write the check at the beginning of the season, but they are more than fair if you make the pick up every week, and are true bargains if you fully avail yourself to the abundance of herbs, beans, tomatoes, peppers and flowers that you pick yourself in the fields. Management bends over backwards to satisfy diverse shareholder preferences and has struck a fine balance between the need for sufficient quantities of staples and a wide variety of choices for the foodies. One share will easily feed a family of four, but a share can be split, making it work well for couples, too. Sign up early. Shares sell out fast.

We rejoined the CSA this year and enjoyed it as much as ever. My wife purchased a flower share as…read morewell so for 10 weeks we had lovely flowers at our table as well. As always, I had to scramble to use all of the shares once the summer started warming up and the volume started to increase, but it was fun to try and/or to give away fresh tomatoes and other produce to friends for them to try. Very glad we rejoined and looking forward to doing it again.

Kudos to the volunteers at Rosie's Place, however & unfortunately, the individual answering the…read morephones provided inaccurate information that wasted my time & wherewithal getting to Rosie's Place. Moreover, the employee working at the front or the intake area was extremely unprofessional with her assumptions that I should have known the protocol & procedures in donating. Clearly, I did not as I was following the incorrect instructions provided to me over the phone. Nor be told in a condescending manner to "walk down the street to Goodwill or Salvation Army"...I walk myself back to the parking lot & along the street blessing individuals who were in need as I waited for my Uber. I applaud the charge of any shelter nurturing the betterment of others, expressly as a former shelter occupier & volunteer. Nevertheless, all employees/volunteers should know the basic processes when representing a temporary housing environment, specifically if there are non-wavering guidelines to adhere to. After viewing Rosie's Place website, I unreservedly celebrate the overall mission on behalf of transitional individuals.

Rosie's Place has and always will be a needed place for women. Yes it's changed staff over the…read moreyears but the LOVE is still inside from the ladies who use the services to the staff and countless volunteers who have come thru the doors GOD BLESS I will never forget my times in here .

I've been a member of the Boston living center since 2002 when I was diagnosed with HIV I love this…read moreplace it's educational for everyone I learned a lot there and met a lot of friends arts and crafts everything computer classes I love the living center it really helped me out unfortunately I moved away but now I'm back and I'm coming back thank the living center for everything I couldn't have made it without the counseling the friends the loving support thank you again

You can tell the employees care about what they do here and see the direct impact on those in need…read more I've volunteered here a few times through One Brick but you can also volunteer directly and the staff are so friendly and helpful. There is downtime so be ready to ask what else you can do because there is always something else. The people you serve to are really sweet and always say thank you in a heartfelt way.

Volunteered here with One Brick and while it was kind of chaos at the start (putting the food in…read morethe appropriate boxes) it ended up going well and was nice to be able to directly see the impact that you're having. Overall you'll be sorting food then helping the people pick up the food that they want and figure out how much of each food item they can have.

I've been around a good deal of volunteer organizations in the greater Boston area. It breaks up my…read moredays when all I want to do is sleep in late and waste away in front of my computer playing games. Harvest Food Pantry is a small operation out of the Cambridgeport Baptist Church and it does it's best to serve poor in our neighborhood every first and third Saturday. I wake up (or at least try to) at 7am to get here for 9 in the morning. That in itself is a huge feat, mostly because as I said I'm lazy. But I really, do enjoy these volunteer opportunities as it makes me think I'm not being completely selfish with my free time. Usually, you come in the morning, let the volunteer at the front desk know you're here to help then you head down to the basement where there's never a shortage of things to do. I've been here with One Brick, Boston Cares also helps out here once and a while. But I've also been here by myself. You don't need to sign-up or register to help here, just try to get here on time and be ready to work. There is no commitment but, if you wanted to make one or do more than just Saturday help they've got other roles you can participate in. Anyways, after you sort food and bags and maybe some clothes you head up to the waiting area where all the people who came by for food are waiting. You then escort someone down to the basement who will then shop from the available food products available at the pantry. They've got a really good system setup and let people take food according to family size. During this time you're either carrying bags for the people shopping or downstairs restocking. It's all over pretty quick, usually it's an hour setting up, an hour helping the patrons and an hour breaking everything down. Now the reason for the 4 stars is because I think that because this is a volunteer run outlet sometimes the people working the administrative side forget to order stuff, like fruits and bread and this has happened on more than one occasion that I'd been here so that effects the families that need help more than my own volunteer experience but yeah there's room for improvement.

I agreed to be a Loader. A Loader, I was told, had to have the ability to lift at least 50-70…read morepounds for three hours. Naturally, I saw this as a challenge, and I accepted. The Greater Boston Food bank employs 14,500 volunteers and provides 19.5 million meals to 320,000 people in New England annually, not just Boston. Volunteers allow the GBFB to defer nearly $600,000 in payroll costs. Wow. Volunteers help in many ways, but mainly by inspecting, sorting and re-packing food at the Roxbury warehouse. Here is what my team accomplished in an afternoon shift: . Number of volunteers: 43 . Total pounds of food sorted: 10,412 (Ten Thousand Pounds!) . Total pounds of food salvaged: 8,330 . Pounds of food sorted per volunteer: 194 . Meals made possible per volunteer: 149 . Total meals made possible by NAIOP volunteers: 6,407 There are many ways to help. You can donate money. You can donate food. You can volunteer for a less physically demanding job. Just do something.

If you're looking for a place to volunteer, this is it. Good for singles or groups. Call ahead,…read moresign in, get ready to sort. Huge new clean place used to sort donated food. It's awesome. You get a rundown on food safety, what to look for, how the process works, then you're off to the main room to sort. It's actually kinda fun. And the facility is nice and new so it's definitely safe and good. Bonus - they feed you expired candy and crap after you're done! Yay!?

Today, the Food Project brought a farmers market to my office to sell fresh, locally grown,…read morepesticide-free produce and other food items. The vegetables were grown by teenagers in an urban garden in Dorchester. The Food Project's mission is to, "grow a thoughtful and productive community of youth and adults from diverse backgrounds who work together to build a sustainable food system." This is totally worth supporting.

A noble organization that aims to drive personal and social change through the development of…read moresustainable food systems. They have two local farms where youth are taught to plant food using traditional, organic methods. Half the produce is donated to shelters and the remainder is sold at farmers' markets or in crop shares. They also host community meals with guest chefs from top-notch chefs from all over the city. And of course, offer group and individual volunteer projects, great for company outings or a free weekend. Their whole staff is simply awesome, especially the outreach coordinator, Michael Iceland. Come support these guys motivate, educate and change!

If you're looking to work hard as a volunteer, the American Red Cross Food Pantry is the place…read more Especially on days when they're distributing food to clients. I was here on a Wednesday morning. Including the other group of volunteers (that my group didn't know) I'd say there were about 25 of us. So if you're looking for a big group activity, distribution day is your ticket. And for the the 4ish hours that we were there, I think we were busy about 98% of the time.. which for those frequent volunteers out there.. isn't always the case on site. Just a little background, the food pantry is in Roxbury. Easily reachable by T or tons of buses. From their website, it says their clients include "senior citizen immigrants, single parents, families in transition, low-income families, homeless individuals, and those living with HIV." Those that qualify can come in for groceries once a month if they meet the USDA guidelines. They must present an ID for each member of the household. Being curious, I checked the USDA website and interestingly enough, post college and pre - full time job I could have qualified for food assistance. Hmm.. We arrived around 8 AM and the day started off with packing "wet bags". Those coming in for food get a wet bag (veggies/salad/etc.), a dry bag (cereal/pasta/Slim Jims/etc), a can bag (more veggies/tomato sauce/etc), and a protein (that day it was beef and whole turkeys for families of 2 or more). Families with babies may also qualify for baby food but everyone pretty much gets the same thing. Later on, I was in the distributing line. Clients check in to the computer and then they come over with a laminated card stating how many family members they have. So of course, the more family members.. the more bags. It can get a bit hectic and it takes some coordination but you get the hang of it. After 12PM, is lock down. Things get put away and the place gets a good sweeping. It was a very interesting experience. The people walking in didn't seem like they needed "assistance". It was generally a diverse population with mostly minorities but they weren't dressed in a certain way, a few had cars, and one guy was listening to an iPod. One of the coordinators said that people would come in and say that they just lost their job earlier that week or this little bit of groceries is what gets them by. Many come every month without fail. In these difficult times, I can definitely see how a few days of groceries can make all the difference. Especially for a family. The coordinators said they saw a record number of people this Thanksgiving. We actually served 400 people that day (and that doesn't include the 1-9+ family members they were picking up food for). So as you can see, every hour of your time can make a world of difference. You can volunteer by yourself or with a group. OR you can run a food drive at your school or job. See the website for details and contacts.

Wow! I had a GREAT volunteer experience here. I went on a Wednesday morning from 8:30a-12 with…read moreBoston Cares. It's (the Red Cross Food Pantry) one of the most efficiently run, friendly, "helping" organizations I've seen. They get the people in and out QUICKLY, and with bags of NICE, QUALITY foods, not just some old beat up cans and a bag of beans. The Red Cross Staff is wonderful, and they will have something for you to do- be it helping to distribute bags of groceries, assisting with line control, packing bags, etc. They begin ON TIME, and end ON TIME If you need assistance, this is also a GREAT place to come. Not a lot of hassle, just basic stuff to be sure you need services, you're treated with friendliness and dignity, and as mentioned, you don't get crapola, you get GOOD, healthy food. In order to feed as many people as possible, you can only come once a month. 5 STARS! BRAVO, Red Cross!

I usually prefer to help individuals I know rather than organizations, but made a donation to…read morePan-Mass challenge as part of a program to get a discount on my auto insurance. The website wasn't entirely clear to me so I called and reached a helpful, pleasant, easy to understand representative in the United States. She explained the process and I received the acknowledgement promptly. However, I did not get the receipt and had to call back the next day for it. I think their systems could be automated and upgraded. The insurer applied the discount to my policy after I took the receipt to my agent. The discount was almost 3 times the minimum donation amount I made. If you have Mapfre insurance and live in Massachusetts check out this promotion.

Having just completed my fifth Pan-Mass Challenge last weekend, i'm taking some time out of my busy…read moreschedule of eating everything in sight to tell everyone how awesome an experience it is. First and foremost, it raises a ridiculous amount of money, 99% of which goes to The Jimmy Fund, a great cause that pretty much every Bostonian knows about already. The folks who run the PMC are thorough and efficient, and get the most out of everything and every cent that's donated to them. Besides that, it's a really great experience, whether you're riding or volunteering; this is the closest thing we have here to something like the Tour de France; not in that it's a competition, but that it's a traveling show that brings people across the state to roadsides, to the foot of their driveways, to their front lawns, from 6am on, to cheer on, entertain, and be entertained by thousands of riders of all speeds. Whether you're a fast rider, or just starting out, strangers on foot and on wheels will be exhorting you to climb the hill, and thanking you for doing it. Volunteers will be keeping you hydrated, fed, and pointed towards the same goal, and you'll have a good time doing it. It's not any kind of luxury vacation; you sleep in a tent or a barracks, you eat sandwiches and grilled food, and drink gatorade and beer. But with the right folks, it all tastes good. The sleep, well, you don't get a heck of a lot of that. With legs burning and a few choice profanities, you'll top the last hills out towards P-town, and roll in to deafening cheers. Drink some beers, ride the party boat. Get home, get some sleep, eat everything in sight. And mark down the sign-up date for next year.