Jessica Cantin is the CEO of Food For Free, bringing over 20 years of leadership in health and human services. Inspired by her own childhood experiences with food insecurity, she is deeply committed to expanding equitable access to nutritious food while reducing waste. Previously CEO of YWCA New Hampshire, Cantin has driven significant organizational growth and innovation, and co-developed initiatives supporting immigrant communities. She now leads Food For Free’s mission to serve more than 150,000 Massachusetts residents, strengthening community food systems and ensuring no one goes hungry.
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Susan Kleiner: Hello and welcome back to the Think Factory, the podcast where we explore ideas, systems, and stories shaping how we live and work, and how we can do it better. I’m your host, Susan Kleiner with OGC Solutions, and I’m here today with Jessica Cantin, CEO of Food for Free, one of the country’s pioneering food rescue organizations. Jessica’s work challenges how we think about hunger, waste, and dignity, and asks us to look beyond charity towards sustainable, systemic solutions. Jessica brings both professional expertise and her own personal experience to her leadership, and I’m excited to dig into how these perspectives help shape her vision for impact.This is a conversation about food, but it’s also about people, policy, and possibility. Welcome, Jessica, to the podcast.
Jessica Cantin: Thank you. So great to be here.
Susan Kleiner: I’m so glad that you made the time for us. So can you tell the audience, what is Food for Free? What does it do? And how is it different than what people might think it is based on its name?
Jessica Cantin: Yeah, so Food for Free started in 1981 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as a group of friends who wanted to rescue food that was being thrown away from a local grocery store.
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