Grateful Hearts—Rescuing Food, Feeding Neighbors, Building Community

With 40% food waste, no one should go hungry. Produce can rot in a farmer’s field, and it can also go unused in community food pantries. That stark reality motivated Dale Coppin to take action.

Dale is a networker, problem solver and logistician who spent his career as a quality assurance manager for a Fortune 500 company. “When I see things that need to be corrected, I don’t sit still.” He met with the team who runs the Manchester Community Food Cupboard in 2010 and brainstormed a solution: soups, stews and casseroles made by a professional chef from unused or gleaned produce. These frozen meal packages could be distributed at food pantries and other outreach agencies.

At the same time, Dale was director of community service at his church. “I sent an email saying we had 40 kids and thousands of pounds of food going to waste, and we wanted to find someone who could help us prepare these meals professionally. A woman responded and said this is just what her husband had been looking for, but he was out west skiing. She volunteered him anyways.”

That skier turned out to be Jeff Scott, executive chef at the West Mountain Inn in Arlington. “Jeff jumped on board and we became very close friends, bonding at first over our common admiration of the Grateful Dead. Naturally we named the project Grateful Hearts. Jeff, God bless him, would come to St. Paul’s kitchen on his day off every week and prepare the meals from our gleaned product. Some days, he would drag himself in, exhausted, after having catered a big weekend wedding at the inn. But he said that when he left at the end of the session, he felt revived because of what he had just accomplished. Jeff did this for five years. The Hearts wouldn’t have gotten off the ground without him.”

Next came the connection with Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington. In July 2016, Dale knocked on the door of Tiffany Tobin, director of hospitality services, knowing he had about 30 seconds to make his elevator pitch. As Tiffany recounts, “That turned into a two-hour meeting and this incredible partnership. I ran down the hall and got Laura LaCroix, our executive chef, and said you gotta hear this guy. This is exactly what we’re looking for.”

This is exactly what we’re looking for. Talk to anyone involved with the Grateful Hearts, and you’ll hear that phrase pop up again and again. From the farmers and gleaners who provide the product; the chefs who orchestrate the cooking; the “chop and chat” and packaging crews; and the volunteers who distribute these frozen packets to outreach agencies in the Manchester and Bennington area: Everyone touched by the Hearts, as Dale calls his ever-expanding team, is infused with vigor, purpose and joy. This program nourishes those who prepare and provide the meals as well as those who receive them.

Leaders embody the philosophy and energy of their program. Dale Coppin radiates enthusiasm and gratitude for life, and his can-do spirit is contagious. This man who battles cancer signs every email, “It’s a great day to be alive.”

Thanks to the partnerships he has developed, Grateful Hearts runs on less than $1,000 annually. “We pay $500 for insurance even though we’re protected under the Good Samaritan law. The rest goes to FDA-approved freezer bags, a heat sealer and labels. It’s staggering how many people benefit from such a small capital expenditure.”

That investment results in more than 30,000 individual meals each year, made with perfectly good food that was destined for the garbage. “I’m on the Hunger Council,” Dale says, “and people around the state are worrying about Act 148 [the Universal Recycling and Composting law]. Well, we have an answer right here,” he continues. “We’re proving that you can take that food and put it to good use to feed your neighbors. The key is finding a facility and a cook. If a community has a hospital and a support staff, you can start right there. If not, you can hopefully find a chef and connect with a commercial kitchen—a VFW, senior center, church or school. Volunteers will come out of the woodwork because they see the direct impact that two hours of time can have. The concept sells itself and I’m just privileged to be a witness.”

Partnering with Southwestern Vermont Medical Center allows for commercial scale production and expansion into Bennington. Laura LaCroix, executive chef, explains: “We simplify and streamline the process. If we’re dicing celery, chopping onions, or peeling potatoes for the hospital, we run another 100 pounds for the Hearts. Prep happens through the week, fitting it in where we can. We also have storage and refrigeration space. For example, when Clear Brook Farm gave us 22 bins of fresh broccoli, our staff knew how to handle it. However, we’re still recovering from the 1,000 pounds of butternut squash that showed up last fall….”

Tiffany Tobin adds, “From an employer standpoint, involving your teams in a program like this can really improve your company’s culture. It offers a rewarding change of pace that allows the team to stretch their culinary skills and give back to those in need. Our employees have expressed such satisfaction since working with this program. We’ve had representatives from other hospitals come tour the kitchen and meet with Laura to see how this program unfolds logistically. Explaining the success we’ve had down here is starting to spark interest up north.”

Meanwhile, back in Manchester, the chop and chat volunteers gather with Kate Ebbott each Monday at St. Paul’s church kitchen. Kate had developed a program in Connecticut that produced 150 meals a week for undernourished kids. “This is in her DNA,” says Dale of his new chef. “Kate is a gem, just like Jeff. It takes a special person who has the dedication to oversee this every week without pay. And now with all the gleaned product we’re sourcing each week, Kate has the food safety knowledge and culinary talent to handle this influx of food.”