Rachel’s Table, Worcester County’s volunteer-driven food rescue nonprofit, will hold its first Dine for Good Weekend from Thursday, Nov. 12, through Saturday, Nov. 14. Participating restaurants and bakers will donate a portion of their sales to Rachel’s Table, so residents can support local hunger relief simply by eating out. There are no tickets, codes, or extra costs.
Organizing the effort is a team of Clark students led by finance and business data analytics major Michael Schiumo ’27. Interns have included Nicole Weise (marketing), Autumn Allard (operations), and Alyssa Mandeville ’28, who is running the social media for the weekend.
The weekend arrives one year after November 2025’s federal SNAP disruption and amid stricter federal SNAP eligibility rules. State data shows 167,000 Massachusetts residents lost SNAP benefits between November 2025 and July 2026, including more than 60,000 children, and pantries across the state report record demand heading into the holidays, according to Schiumo.
Rachel’s Table rescues more than 500,000 pounds of surplus food each year and delivers it to shelters, food pantries and meal programs across Worcester County. Through its Children’s Milk Fund, it delivers more than 600 gallons of milk each week to programs serving about 20,000 children, and 93% of its partner agencies rely on Rachel’s Table for 90 to 100% of their weekly milk supply.
People also can join Dine In for Good by giving what a night out would cost. The goal is $3,800, which funds one full week of the Children’s Milk Fund.
Schiumo took a few minutes from a busy academic schedule and event-organizing duties to discuss this Clark-driven effort to assist those experiencing food insecurity.
How did you come to be connected with Rachel’s Table? Tell me about your work there.
It started with a class. In my first year at Clark, Professor Paul Case’s Art and Science of Management course partnered with Rachel’s Table on a community project to grow its social media, mainly Instagram and Facebook, and build an overall social media strategy. I ended up as the main go-between for our student group and the executive director. When the class ended, I didn’t want to stop. A few months later, it became an academic internship, and in May 2025 it became a paid, part-time role.
Today I run Rachel’s Table’s marketing and outreach: social media, the website, fundraising partnerships with local businesses, and our Faces of Rachel’s Table storytelling series. I also built our student internship program and supervise the interns. Rachel’s Table is a small, volunteer-driven nonprofit that rescues more than 500,000 pounds of surplus food a year from restaurants, grocers, and caterers and delivers it free to shelters, pantries, and meal programs. With a team that small, a student who shows up consistently can take on real responsibility, and that’s what kept me there.
Describe how you approached the local businesses to secure their involvement.
I started in August with short, personal emails to restaurants across Worcester County. The pitch was simple: pick one night, give a share of that night’s sales, and we’ll handle everything else. Restaurants want to help, but they’re busy, so the whole goal was to make saying “yes” easy.
Every partner got a ready-made kit: social graphics, a flyer, talking points for staff, and simple steps for sending the donation afterward. Each one also set terms that worked for their business. Eller’s in Leicester suggested its own Italian buffet night instead of a weekend dinner; Rushford & Sons in Upton is giving a dollar per drink; and two local bakers created special items. When someone said “not this way,” I tried to find a way that worked for them. We ended up with six restaurants and two bakers across Worcester County, plus a kickoff buffet night at Eller’s on Nov. 10.
Restaurants want to help, but they’re busy. Our whole approach was to make saying “yes” easy: pick a night, and we’ll handle everything else.”
What are your goals for the Dine for Good Weekend?
The first goal is to raise money for food rescue when local need is high, a year after last November’s SNAP disruption. We also added Dine In for Good for anyone who can’t eat out that weekend. They can give what a night out would cost, and our goal is $3,800, which funds one full week of our Children’s Milk Fund: more than 600 gallons of milk for programs serving about 20,000 kids in Worcester County. Ninety-three percent of our partner agencies rely on Rachel’s Table for 90 to 100 percent of their weekly milk, so that week matters.
The longer-term goal is to make Dine for Good an annual event, and to show local restaurants they can be ongoing partners in fighting hunger, not one-time donors.
I started this as a first-year class project. I stayed because the work is real. Every partner and every post helps keep food moving to people in Worcester who need it.
What are your career goals post-Clark?
I’m studying finance and business data analytics, and I’m heading toward a career in business analysis in financial services after I graduate in May. Rachel’s Table taught me as much about running an organization as any class: budgets, partnerships, data and people. Whatever I do next, I want community work like this to stay part of it.
