Nourish Nantucket and Family Resource Center Respond to Rising Food Insecurity with Rapid, Collaborative Action

Nourish Nantucket announced the successful implementation of its Grocery Card pilot program as part of a broader, coordinated response to rising food insecurity and a growing demand for food access programs on Nantucket. Driven by the island’s high cost of living – a long-standing challenge that continues to worsen – food insecurity has increased over the past year, while available food access programs have not been able to keep up with community need.

In response, Nourish Nantucket stood up the Grocery Card Program in a matter of weeks this fall, enrolling 600 individuals. Demand far exceeded capacity, with nearly 700 additional individuals currently on a waitlist for next year and growing each day, underscoring the continued and growing need for expanded food access solutions on the island.

A critical component of this effort was Nourish Nantucket’s close partnership with the Nantucket Family Resource Center (FRC). This fall, FRC experienced a significant increase in neighbors seeking food-related support and worked closely with Nourish Nantucket to connect individuals to timely, flexible resources.

“The Family Resource Center has been an incredible, collaborative partner,” said Meg Browers, executive director of Nourish Nantucket. “Their staff meets clients with care and respect, and together we were able to respond quickly across multiple forms of food access.”

Through this partnership, Nourish Nantucket and FRC coordinated grocery cards, NN’s prepared meals program, the NN Farm Truck, Thanksgiving meal boxes, and additional farmers market vouchers for HIP clients, creating multiple entry points for food access and allowing individuals to receive support in ways that worked best for their lives.

The Grocery Card Program emphasized freedom of choice, enabling individuals to purchase food aligned with their dietary needs, cultural preferences, and personal circumstances, while helping to bridge the widening gap between wages and the true cost of living on Nantucket.

Funding for the program was provided in part through Nourish Nantucket’s Food Fund, the organization’s discretionary grantmaking source for food security partners and time-sensitive and urgent initiatives. Additional funding from Remain, the Nantucket Golf Club Foundation and a matching grant allowed Nourish Nantucket to extend the program and maximize its impact through the winter months.

“We’re deeply thankful to Remain and the Nantucket Golf Club Foundation for recognizing both the urgency and the long-term nature of this challenge,” Browers said. “They were attuned to the work already underway and responded nimbly and generously so we could reach more people during a critical season.”

While federal nutrition programs like SNAP remain essential, structural limitations, enrollment barriers, and uncertainty around benefits continue to leave many island residents without sufficient support, particularly in our high-cost, geographically isolated community. The demand for the Grocery Card Program highlights the importance of community organizations working together to respond where and how they can.

“This work is also about making it clear that food insecurity is not a personal failure, it’s a systems issue,” Browers added. “If you need help, it’s okay to ask. And when organizations collaborate, we can respond faster and more humanely. And if you’re in a position to give, your support right now directly determines how many of our neighbors we can reach in the months ahead.”