Nantucket Community Food Hub

The Nantucket Community Food Hub unites food access and agricultural programs under one roof, creating a lasting resource for the island community.

Photo left - right: Rachael Freeman, Janis Carreiro, and Meg Browers 

For the first time in the island’s history, several food access programs will operate from a dedicated, centrally located hub designed to serve the community for generations to come.

Thanks to the tireless work of Board Members Brooke Mohr and Bruce 
A. Percelay, 19 Boynton Lane is now the Nantucket Community Food Hub. 
Co-acquired with the Nantucket Land Bank, the building houses the Nantucket Food Pantry, the Land Bank’s Agricultural Processing Center, meal preparation, and Nourish Nantucket offices, giving the island’s food system a home built to last.

The acquisition of 19 Boynton Lane is more than a real estate transaction; it is a declaration that food security warrants a permanent, essential infrastructure on Nantucket.

Photo left – right: Rachael Freeman, Janis Carreiro, and Meg Browers 

Our impact graphic
Community Food hub

“Our new home is more than we could have wished for — bright, beautiful, and welcoming. It creates an extraordinarily positive environment for members of our community who need a helping hand.”

Ruth Pitts, Nantucket Food Pantry

“The Community Food Hub brought to life the Land Bank’s vision of an Agricultural Processing Facility by creating a space where venison and locally grown meats can be processed, distributed, and shared with those who need it most.”

Rachael Freeman, Executive Director, Nantucket Land Bank

“For more than three decades the Nantucket Interfaith Council, representing Nantucket’s diverse religious communities, has viewed addressing food insecurity on our island as a primary responsibility. We are so grateful to join our partners, Nourish Nantucket and the Land Bank in the establishment of the Community Food Hub.”

Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor, Interfaith Council President

“The opening of the Community Food Hub closed a huge gap in our food security services, letting food programming be collocated with other human services like utility and travel assistance. I couldn’t be happier to see the facility used like this, it’s honestly the most we could ask for in terms of space.”

Jerico Mele, Deputy Director, Health and Human Services, Town of Nantucket

“The Community Food Hub represents an innovative and sustainable approach to strengthening Nantucket’s local food system while ensuring vulnerable residents have reliable access to healthy meals and essential nutrition.”

Julian Cyr, State Senator, Cape & Islands District, and Thomas Moakley, State Representative, Barnstable, Dukes, & Nantucket Districts

“This building is the result of this community that rose up to meet a critical need. For years, we talked about what Nantucket needed, a dedicated facility to address food insecurity and support local food systems. We now have the space for the Food Pantry, for summer student meals, and for other critical food access programs.”

Bruce A. Percelay, Board Member, Nourish Nantucket
NANTUCKET

Land Bank Agricultural Processing Center

In its first winter, hunters donated 58 deer to the Land Bank’s new Agricultural Processing Center, which amounted to the production and donation of over 900 pounds of ground venison. The Land Bank has been brainstorming the creation of an on-island abattoir in support of agriculture and local food production for several years now.

The collaborative purchase of the 19 Boynton Lane property with Nourish Nantucket turned that vision into reality as the building’s basement was already designed for butchering and needed only a few modest upgrades to become a fully operational facility. Shortly after purchase, the basement at 19 Boynton Lane was repurposed as the Land Bank’s Agricultural Processing Center and approved to process venison for MassWildlife’s Hunters Share the Harvest Program.

Through this program, hunters were able to drop off whole deer to the facility, which was turned into ground venison and donated to Nantucket residents facing food insecurity. Nantucket is well known for an overabundance of deer, and hunters who are already invested in the 
land now had a way to directly channel that harvest into community good. It is hard to imagine a better outcome.

Hunters