Want to help create a strong and vibrant, local food system?
Volunteer with New Entry! We welcome people who bring energy, creativity, knowledge, and fun to our work. We strive to build relationships and community with our volunteers so that we may learn from one another. Our dedicated volunteers are vital to the success of our programs and our work transforming the food system, in Massachusetts, New England and beyond.
Ways to get involved:
- Food Hub - Produce Packer: Organize and pack fresh produce to get ready for delivery to their final destinations (CSA, wholesale, food access programs). Packing usually takes place on Mondays and Tuesdays in the mornings from June to October at our Food Hub in Beverly, MA.
Food Hub Site Coordinator: Greet our CSA members and make sure they get their weekly produce shares. Tuesday afternoons from June to October at our farm in Beverly, MA.
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Farm Volunteer: Help with planting, weeding, harvesting, cleaning and other miscellaneous maintenance tasks. Open to individuals and groups; flexible timing Monday through Thursday from May to October at our farm in Beverly, MA.
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Event Volunteer: Help with New Entry’s community events that we host on-site during the year! We could use extra hands with tasks such as: planning and project management, promotion, setting up activity stations and tents, helping with IT, taking pictures and videos, and clean up.
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Choose [our] Fresh & Local License Plate: By updating your Massachusetts license plate today, you are not only showing your support of small farms, farmers' markets, and our local food system and spreading the word - you're donating to help New Entry sustain a vibrant local food system for years to come. Learn more!
Here's How Volunteers Helped in the Past!
The Great Pumpkin Smash: During The Great Pumpkin Smash, hosted in November, we had over
1,800 people walk through the gates of our incubator farm to learn about composting and sustainability initiatives. Kids and adults alike had a blast and everyone contributed to a successful event. Our co-organizers Green Beverly and Endicott College exceeded their leadership, engaging volunteers to plan and offer a fun space with the construction of the Pumpkin Destruction Zone, including the Gourd-O-Tine (guillotine; the Jack-O-Launcher (trebuchet), and the pumpkin smash boards). While it was a fun community event, we also met our goal to educate people about waste reduction and to provide a place to compost their pumpkins which will turn into nutrient-rich organic matter that will feed our soil and our crops next year. We estimate that we collected over 2,500 pumpkins, diverted over 30,000 lbs of organic food waste from the landfill, and generated a carbon impact of reducing 34.9 metric tons of CO2 emissions (as a reference, the average person in the US has an annual carbon footprint of around 16 mt CO2e, so we were able to reduce the carbon footprint of 2 people for an entire year - small steps, but every bit counts!). It was a pleasure to partner on such an important and fun community event!
It was a pleasure to partner with our co-organizers Green Beverly and Endicott College on such an important and fun community event!
Image description: A group of Boston University students in yellow tshirts stand in a group on the Incubator Farm. They smile as they gather around a wheelbarrow after a long, fun day ofvolunteering on the farm.
Boston University Volunteer Group organizing our reusable produce bins at the New Entry Food Hub. These are the bins that our farmers use on a daily basis to deliver our fresh, local, organic produce for CSA shares. When they are organized, our food hub runs smoothly!
Image description: stacks of large, gray plastic bins sit on a loading dock. Boston University students are moving around them to clean and organize them.