We invite you to learn a little about the people in our community in our occasional series “Meet a Neighbor.” In each of these posts, we profile someone who lives or works in Amherst by sharing their responses to our 20-ish questions, both serious and fun. This week: meet Merideth Lively.

Merideth Lively, of Amherst, recently joined Project Bread’s 2025 Council of Experts with Lived Experience. The Council of Experts brings together a group of individuals who have lived experience of hunger to inform and shape Project Bread’s decision-making, strategy, and policy initiatives that make it easier for others living in Massachusetts to access and afford food with dignity.

Project Bread is the leading statewide food security organization in Massachusetts with a radical approach to ending hunger. The nonprofit engages residents, elected officials, service providers, and businesses to act against hunger and empower communities, so everyone in the Commonwealth has reliable access to food. 

Through the 10-month program, Lively will have the opportunity to be part of the nonprofit’s strategy development and anti-hunger advocacy while receiving training to strengthen their leadership skills, build expertise as a community leader and advocate, and provide significant value in advancing impactful and effective solutions to food insecurity.

“We firmly believe that hunger can be solved through collective action,” says Project Bread Vice President of Engagement Catalina López-Ospina. “The Council of Experts plays a vital role in helping us to achieve our vision to make Massachusetts a hunger-free state, while taking an inclusive approach focused on food justice and individual autonomy. With their advocacy, perspectives, and community knowledge, we are confident that our Council members will help drive significant progress toward systemic solutions to end food insecurity across the Commonwealth.”

Currently a student at Holyoke Community College, Lively brings a variety of experiences navigating community resources like SNAP and developing a practical knowledge of food security as an herbalist and forager. With Appalachian and Melungeon heritage, Lively is an experienced farmworker and nonprofit employee, and they have done advocacy work at the federal and state levels, driving change as a collaborative and empowering leader. They hope to learn from other Council members and continue to grow as a leader, engaging in strategic planning, developing stronger advocacy skills, and gaining more confidence in their ability to speak up.

“Voices like mine are often excluded from important conversations, and I want to change that by advocating for myself and people with similar experiences,” says Lively. “By joining the Council of Experts, I want to bring my passion for food justice and community engagement to a larger platform, sharing my unique perspective to help others as well.”

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Full name:

Merideth Lively

Nickname:

Mer

Years living or working in Amherst:

10, with a few little gaps here and there

Job/What keeps you busy most days?

Taking care of my family, Project Bread, VCIH’s clinical herbalism program, coursework at HCC, and I also do part time landscaping and garden work. 

Hobbies:

Making art, Gardening, Playing music, Volunteering, Reading

Book you’d recommend to a friend:

Anything Terry Pratchett.

Last show or movie you streamed:

The Golden Girls.

Five things you wouldn’t want to live without:

Singing, my family, baths, my phone, little treats

Top of your bucket list:

I would like to travel much more. I have already been to 3 continents. Music education gave me the opportunity to travel and to enrich myself with knowledge!

Life-changing experience:

My stepmother and my uncle passed away within 4 months of each other when I was in college. It really affected my whole family and especially the children. Since then I do my best to challenge myself to show up for each day because we truly never know how long we have. My wish is that people would be more compassionate towards others, because you never know the private struggles someone is having. 

First job:

Working in the office at the Hemophilia Foundation of Michigan at age 13

A hidden talent or little-known fact about you:

I am a great musician. My primary instrument is voice, but I’m decent on the keyboard and can do basics on guitar, steel guitar, banjo, ukulele. I come from a long line of musicians and music teachers. I’m working on making this talent less hidden!

Dumbest thing you ever did:

Hit myself in the face with a garden tool from stepping on it, just like Sideshow Bob, and chipped my tooth.

One trend you’d like to see return:

I wanted wide leg jeans to come back in style – and they did!

If you could have dinner with any 3 people, alive or dead, who would you invite?

John Prine, my grandfather, and my great grandfather.

Best (or worst) advice you ever got?

“It is what it is”

Most used emoji? 🥰

Favorite place to get a bite:

Halal cart, Ginger Garden

3 favorite foods?

Pizza, chocolate, rice and beans

What gives you the creeps?

The idea that my family fought against the Confederates and now that ideology is becoming popular again.

Who do you most admire?

My family

Are you sunrise, daylight, twilight, or night?

Twilight

What would you like to be known/remembered for?

I would like to leave a legacy of improving conditions for my child, as my family has done for me.

Which song can you listen to all day long?

This is a really hard question for a musician to answer. I have so many favorites so I’m going to pick a genre. I’m very fond of Motown. When I was growing up we would clean the house on Saturdays and listen to Motown on the radio all day long.

What was your favorite game to play as a child?

Red Rover