During the COVID-19 pandemic, two general stores in the Northeast Kingdom joined hundreds of restaurants statewide to prepare meals for Vermont Everyone Eats. The program paid dining establishments to buy local ingredients to prepare food for those in need. Four million free meals were distributed between August 1, 2020 and March 31, 2023.
But when the program ended, the need remained. So, the Craftsbury General Store and the Albany General Store — sister businesses both dubbed “the Genny” — began giving free hot sandwiches to anyone who asked. Yet even that wasn’t enough, according to Genny co-owner Jana Smart. Having to ask for a free sandwich was a hurdle too high for some proud but hungry neighbors, she said.
Instead, Smart and fellow owners Emily Maclure and Kit Basom asked the chefs who prepare meals for the delis at the two stores to package some in single-serve containers. Those meals — 50 to 60 a week — go into freezers that sit outside each store. People can take what they need from the appropriately named “Genny FREE-zers.”
The stores aim to stock both vegetarian and meat options. Clam chowder, chili, pozole, cabbage and kielbasa soup, shepherd’s pie, and meatballs with marinara have appeared, each with a red heart sticker on the lid. Mac and cheese and “Genny Helper,” a noodle dish made with local beef and Cabot cheddar, are among the most popular.
The system has rarely been abused, according to Smart, but the owners started to lock the freezers when the stores are closed after someone emptied them last spring.
Donations cover roughly half the cost, Smart said. Customers chip in when they check out or by clicking a link on the stores’ website — gennyvt.com/freezers. Cashiers hear expressions of gratitude for the program, Smart said, “all the time.”
The original print version of this article was headlined “Genny-rosity”
This article appears in October 7 • 2026.
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