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Date: 11/30/2022
LONGMEADOW – For the past two years, Bassie Baron has organized a food drive contest at Lubavitcher Yeshiva Academy (LYA), a Jewish day school in Longmeadow. Now in seventh grade, Baron is looking to the future and how to grow her efforts to stop food insecurity.
The idea to collect food came when Baron was 6 years old and did not like some gifts that she received. Her mother shared with her that Baron’s grandfather donated items to charity and suggested she ask for items to be donated, rather than gifts. That year, she set a goal of collecting seven boxes of food to donate to Rachel’s Table, an organization from the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts which seeks to alleviate hunger and end food waste in the region.
Each year, Baron has added a box of food to her collection goal. This year her goal was to collect 14 boxes. Two years ago, Baron took her donation collection to LYA and asked if she could request the other students join in the collection. From there, it became a contest among the classrooms.
“Every morning I put a box outside each classroom door with the name of the class,” Baron explained. Students bring shelf-stable foods in from home to add to their class’s box.
“The kids are doing all the work,” Baron said. “I just organize it. Some classes do more than others. I feel special getting to organize it.”
Baron has been a member of the Rachel’s Table Teen Board since the age of 9. The Teen Board is a youth group that educates the public about food insecurity and works on community projects.
“Bassie exemplifies so perfectly the fundamental ideals that formed Rachel’s Table – to think of others in need,” said Jodi Falk, director of Rachel’s Table.
When it comes to the food drive, Baron has her eye toward the future. Baron is mentoring third grader Chaya Cohen to take over the food drive contest at LYA once the seventh grader graduates the school next year. Once the Cohen takes over, she will bring the donations to Baron’s house so that she can add the food to the donations she collected from the non-school community.
Baron said there is something special about the donations coming from youth. “If [recipients of the food] know kids donated this food, and even preschoolers might have collected the food, I think that’s cool,” Baron shared.
Baron plans to continue collecting food donations for Rachel’s Table. She considered, “I won’t be able to add a box to my goal every year. Like, when I’m 20, I won’t be able to collect 21 boxes.” That said, she looks forward to growing the donation drive and “letting more people know about it.”