Regina with students Elle from Gordon College, Jenna from Framingham State University, and Ethan from Brandeis University.

Happy holidays everyone!

Here at FRN headquarters, we have so much to celebrate, as you’ve noticed in the last several newsletters. For us, this year has meant many milestones: our second cohort of Fellows are almost halfway through their term, we hit one million pounds, our chapter numbers are growing at a pace we’ve not seen before -- I could go on. However, I want to pause here and reflect on how we actually arrived at these milestones. We got here with creativity, with grit, and with the acceptance of a lot of change.

Let me stress change. I am sure all of you are experiencing an equal amount of change in your lives -- often, the holiday season is synonymous with change: where you celebrate the holidays and with whom, incorporating new rituals that may or may not become tradition, and what has captured your attention in this most reflective time of year. Our milestones are preceded by a host of tries, by rethinking what has worked well in the past, and also by a lot of misses from which we’ve learned. That’s what it takes to be a leader in the food recovery movement and we’re propelled by the passion of knowing we have a solution to solving one of our community’s most complex issue. We thank you for supporting us, and we say cheers to you as you embrace the change in your life that will guide you to your next milestone.