Nourishing North Shore marks 10 years of service, raises $80k
ipswichlocalnews.com | October 8, 2025 | By Amy Palmer
Click here to read the original article as a PDF.
ROWLEY — Nourishing the North Shore celebrated 10 years of making fresh, local food more accessible with a large fundraising event at Bradstreet Farm in Rowley last month.
The nonprofit, which provides fresh farm produce to food insecure house-holds across Essex County, raised over $80,000 at its Sunset Soirée fundraiser, which saw more than 150 attendees.
“[That] night was just like the clearest example of our community coming together and helping to fill that gap —making an investment into local farms and making sure our neighbors have access to fresh, local food,” executive director Tany Blasko said.
Here in Essex County, roughly one in three households is experiencing food insecurity, according to a 2024 Greater Boston Food Bank report.
While that may be surprising to some, Blasko said, it is a lived reality for many. In 2015, the founders of Nourishing the North Shore saw that need and began working to meet it, starting with a single garden plot and one distribution site.
Farms across Essex County initially donated produce to the nonprofit. As the organization grew, it began purchasing that food. It now serves 11 communities and purchases all of its food from local farms, Blasko said.
Last year, Nourishing the North Shore distributed over 70,000 pounds of local farm food, she said, and it’s on track to do the same thing this year. But the nonprofit lost a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture worth more than $180,000.
Without that money, Blasko said the group didn’t know how they would keep meeting demand, especially as “more and more people show up” to the food pantries and meal programs they partner with.
So, in hosting its 10-year anniversary celebration, the nonprofit also set what it considered a lofty fundraising goal of $25,000, development director Rosemary Turgeon said. Within five minutes, she said the group reached it sgoal, and made over $80,000 by the end of the night.
“In times of worry about food insecurity and SNAP cuts, Nourishing the North Shore is a bright spot that proves we can effectively help our neighbors,” Rep. Kristin Kassner, who attended the event, posted on social media.
The fundraiser featured numerous auctions and food prepared by Woodland Catering, which was made from many locally sourced ingredients.
“Everybody was thrilled to be there. We do a lot of functions [where] they’re all happy, they’re all there, but the level of excitement…was way up here,” Mike Sabatini said, gesturing his hand up high.
Sabatini, who owns Bradstreet Farm, said Nourishing the North Shore is “filling an amazing need,” which was reflected in everyone’s excitement at the event.
Blasko and Turgeon said they felt incredibly grateful to Bradstreet Farm and to the community for supporting their mission.
“This community just continues to show up, and we need it now more than ever,” Blasko said