Finding a Passion for Giving Back
Allie Kerivan has a renewed appreciation for growing most of her own food. She started three years ago as a college freshman when money was tight. But since joining Gather as a warehouse associate in 2023, it has become about more than saving money. Witnessing the hundreds of people who rely on Gather as a key source of their food — learning just how many people face food insecurity — has given Allie a new perspective.
“I see members’ faces light up when they see the fresh produce we have. People still want healthy food even if they’re coming to a food pantry,” says Allie, a senior at the University of New Hampshire majoring in international economics and sustainable agriculture. When she started at Gather she was a business major but switched to her dual major after taking a few nutritional courses.
Between those courses and her business classes, Allie started to notice the politics behind farmers, behind agriculture as big business and the move away from sustainable agriculture. It is a move, she says, that has increased food insecurity and hampered access to healthy food.
In her role as warehouse associate Allie receives, weighs and sorts fresh produce and other donations, packs food for mobile markets, picks up donations from food drives and helps keep the shelves in the food pantry, where Gather members shop, stocked.
Allie grew up on a working horse farm. Even before college she was interested in raising her own food. Today, as food prices continue to rise, she says she has a sense of pride that she can do so. She tries to grow food the way, she says, it wants to be grown. She uses the Three Sisters method of planting, a Native American practice that refers to corn, beans and squash, grown together because they nurture each other.
“It’s kind of like having a best friend. Foods build on each other,” Allie says.
She found her way to Gather when she decided to get involved with a food pantry while working as a line cook at Exeter Hospital. Before Gather, her knowledge of fighting hunger was witnessed in churches or through the food stamps program.
“When I found Gather I was blown away. Gather has created a community where it’s okay to ask for help. It has given me so much access; I’ve learned so much. Working on a farm is awesome; it gives me hands-on experience. But being here, being able to give people access to food is so humbling. It’s such a reminder: people can’t live without food.”