Support our work

The produce aisle, delivered to the front door.

We run free farmers markets inside affordable housing communities — real produce, chosen by residents, at no cost and with no eligibility paperwork. Philanthropic support is what lets us open markets where they're needed most.

Talk to us about fundingFinancials & governance
501(c)(3) · EIN 85-2400169 Founded 2020 98% of FY2025 expenses went to program Form 990 & IRS letter available below
The model

A farmers market that comes to you.

Most food assistance asks people to travel to it. Ours arrives at the property. Our drivers bring the food into the leasing office or community room and set it out on tables — and the property's own resident services team takes it from there.

1

We source at wholesale

Produce is bought direct from farms and wholesalers through a centralized network — no retail markup, no store overhead.

2

We deliver it inside and set it out

Our drivers bring the food to the leasing office or community room and lay it out on tables, ready to hand out. Nobody at the property sources food, manages vendors, or files reimbursements.

3

On-site staff run the distribution

Each property's own resident services team gives the food to their residents. It's free, with no income screening and no sign-up. They already know their community; we handle everything upstream of the table.

4

It repeats, on a schedule

Markets run on a predictable cadence so residents can plan around them and properties can budget for the year. Because we don't staff each site, the model scales from one property to hundreds.

Produce delivered to a property Unloading a pallet of fresh food
Deliveries arrive by the pallet and are unloaded on site by our team.
Reach

Built to run anywhere in the country.

Our model is centralized sourcing plus regional delivery, which means a new market isn't limited by where we already operate. If a partner has properties in a state we've never served, we can build the supply chain for it.

1.2M+Meals delivered to date
165+Communities served
20K+People fed every month
50States we can deliver to
Meals delivered is cumulative since 2020 and includes donated produce distributed under our former name, Central MA Food Rescue. Meal equivalents use the Feeding America standard of 1.2 pounds per meal.

Currently operating in 21 states and DC

MD42MA31TX24CA13VA9DC8WA6RI5CO4CT4GA4IL4AZ3IN3MI2NC2OH2FL1MO1NH1NJ1SC1
Not on this list? That's a track record, not a service area. Tell us where your properties are and we'll build the market there.
What a gift buys

One dollar. One pound.

Because we buy at wholesale and deliver direct, a dollar here puts a full pound of fresh produce into a resident's hands — sourcing, transport and delivery included.

$1 = 1 lb
Average all-in cost per pound of fresh food delivered, including sourcing and logistics.
At the Feeding America standard of 1.2 pounds per meal, that works out to roughly $1.20 per meal. Retail grocery would cost about three times as much for the same food.
$6,000
1 community
funded for a full year
$25,000
4 communities
funded for a full year
$50,000
8 communities
funded for a full year
$100,000
16 communities
funded for a full year
Based on an average annual program cost of roughly $6,000 per community. Cost figures are internal operating estimates; FY2026 audited figures will be published following our annual audit.
Who this reaches

Fresh food, for people it usually skips.

Fresh red peppers from a delivery
From a partner property

One resident we serve remembers when fresh vegetables felt like a luxury she couldn't afford. Living on a fixed income, most of her budget went to rent and to medication for her diabetes. She relied heavily on canned and processed food from the pantry, which made managing her blood sugar steadily harder.

When Full Belly Foods began running markets at her community, she was among the first to come. Each month she now picks up crisp lettuce, ripe tomatoes, sweet peppers and seasonal fruit — food that has changed both her meals and her health, and that she tells our partners she looks forward to cooking again.

Shared with us by the resident services team at a partner affordable housing organization. Written about the resident rather than quoted directly; name and identifying details withheld.
Governance & transparency

Everything a diligence review needs.

We're a small organization and we file like one. Here is the full picture, current as of our most recent completed fiscal year.

Organization

Legal name
Central MA Food Rescue, Inc.
Operating name
Full Belly Foods
EIN
85-2400169
Status
501(c)(3) public charity
Year formed
2020 · Massachusetts
FY2025 total revenue
$279,078
FY2025 total expenses
$306,134
FY2025 program expense
$300,021 · 98% of expenses
FY2025 fundraising expense
$0
Form 990 — FY2025PDF · 308 KB IRS determination letterPDF · 344 KB
FY2026 figures, including audited financials, will be published following our annual audit. We are not publishing unaudited current-year numbers.

Board of directors

CD
Caleb Dimenstein
Director
JS
Joel Sharpe
Director
MS
Michael Silver
Director
Three independent voting directors. Headshots and professional affiliations pending.

Leadership

BS
Ben Sigel
Founder & President
Emory University (Goizueta BBA, 2020). Previously led a $500M→$700M business at Walmart before committing full-time to Full Belly Foods.
The ask

There are communities we can't reach yet.

We're not running a capital campaign. Most of our program is funded by the housing operators we work with — but demand keeps outrunning what those budgets can carry. Every month we hear from communities whose residents need this and whose funding can't cover it.

Philanthropic support is what lets us say yes to them. A gift underwrites markets at properties that want the program and can't pay for it — and every site we open stays open.

Start a conversation

Whether you'd like to underwrite markets in communities that can't fund them, or you have properties that need the program — this reaches Ben directly.

Or email ben@fullbellyfoods.com directly. Ben replies personally, usually within one business day.