TSA participates in free meals program
Get Free Meals for Your Family
TSA is again participating in Upper Valley Everyone Eats (UVEE), the local hub of the statewide coronavirus relief program Vermont Everyone Eats, which pays Vermont restaurants $10/meal to prepare free, nutritious meals for Vermonters who are experiencing food insecurity, or whose food security has been impacted by the pandemic.
To receive weekly frozen meals, for free, just complete this form. No identifying information other than your name and email is required.
This program is designed to support the state’s recovery in an interdependent way: when Vermont restaurants are distributing UVEE meals, they’re supporting their neighbors, and when Vermonters are receiving UVEE meals, they’re supporting local hard-hit restaurants.
We encourage families to request meals for everyone in the household (not just students). We also welcome you to request multiple meals per person; just be aware that while dishes vary from week to week, there isn’t likely to be variety within each week’s distribution (i.e., Week 1 may be all chili mac, Week 2 may be all corned beef and potatoes).
Food security is defined as: “having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.”
“Having reliable access” to food means being able to financially AND physically obtain food. For example: the food security of the elderly and immunocompromised has been impacted by the pandemic in that they can no longer grocery shop as easily as they once could. So there are multiple ways the pandemic may have impacted a household’s ability to obtain food. If the pandemic has impacted a Vermont household’s ability to obtain sufficient affordable, nutritious food in either a financial or a physical way, that household is eligible for UVEE meals.
For reference, a recent UVM study shows that roughly 30% of Vermonters are currently experiencing food insecurity. This number is nearly triple the 2018 rate, highlighting the increased hardship the pandemic has brought upon Vermonters.