Beacon-based Fareground distributes free food throughout Dutchess County and beyond

By Arvind Dilawar
Photo by Jiatong Lu

Yin Mei was a young child when her family arrived in the United States from China, but there’s an early memory that stays with her: A volunteer from a local charity coming to their doorstep during the holiday season to give her a gift. As recent immigrants, Mei’s family turned to charities such as food pantries for support when times were tough, which she describes as a humbling yet inspiring experience.

“You realize the value of community,” she says, “and how beautiful it is to grow up and live in a place where your economic status and temporary moment of need is not shamed, but rather supported.”

Today, Mei is one of 300 volunteers with Fareground, a Beacon-based charity that distributes free groceries and prepared meals throughout Dutchess County and beyond. As with Mei’s experience, Fareground aims to blur the lines between those who give and those who receive, underscoring the abundance for all.

“We actually make a point of recruiting volunteers from the people who are coming to get food,” says Jamie Levato, Fareground’s executive director. “There’s real value in having people who are working with the food, sharing the food, and being some of the faces of the organization—and who have actually experienced food insecurity.”

According to Dutchess County’s Food Security Council, nearly 30,000 county residents are food insecure, meaning they don’t have enough to eat or don’t know where their next meal will be coming from. The council estimates that the shortfall in food amounts to nearly $24 million each year.

Fareground works to bridge that shortfall. The charity receives food from two regional food banks, as well as local businesses, such as farms and restaurants. Those donations are repurposed in grocery bags and prepared meals, which Fareground distributes through farm stands, after-school snacks, drive-thru pick-ups, local pantries, and deliveries.

Fareground’s operations stretch from Beacon, Fishkill, Poughkeepsie, and Cold Spring across the Hudson River to Newburgh, feeding up to 6,000 people a year. Although recent immigrants are among the groups they serve, Levato says the need is as wide as it is deep, stretching from unhoused individuals to elderly households.

With a staff of just two part-time employees, the majority of Fareground’s work is performed by volunteers like Mei. In addition to receiving and redistributing food, volunteers fill other roles as their skill sets allow. Mei, with her background in technology, has also been helping with Fareground’s website and social media accounts.

But most of the work, as well as the joy, of Fareground revolves around food. As Mei explains, her challenge as a volunteer is to ensure that the food coming in goes out to otherwise empty stomachs—but sometimes there is just too much of this or that. Shortly after Mei started, there was a glut of plums, which she and her fellow volunteers dealt with themselves.

“We went paddle boarding together,” she recalls. “I brought some of the plums that we had left over, and we were able to paddle board and plum.”—fareground.org