‘Fill bellies, feed hearts’: Second Helpings celebrates 25 years of providing food, community

Deerfield Academy students serve Second Helpings, a community meal, at the Episcopal Church of Saints James and Andrew in Greenfield. STAFF PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

By CHRIS LARABEE, Staff Writer                                                                           Published: 04-27-2025 2:00 PM
GREENFIELD — For a quarter of a century, Deerfield Academy and the Episcopal Church of Saints James and Andrew have been serving up helpings for body and soul.

Each Monday afternoon, Deerfield Academy’s kitchen whips up hot meals and sends them up Routes 5 and 10 to Greenfield, where students and volunteers serve more than 100 people joining the Second Helpings program, a community meal celebrating its 25th anniversary at its weekly meal on April 28.
​
Second Helpings is a collaboration between the private school and the church that is only growing stronger, according to Erin Donnally Drake, who helps lead the program and is the manager of student information systems at Deerfield Academy. Read more...