Food insecurity is an ongoing problem across the country, and Western Massachusetts is no different. According to an annual report from the Greater Boston Food Bank, 2023 saw 48% of people in Hampden County facing food insecurity. The same was true for 37% of Hampshire County residents.
The Healey-Driscoll administration announced $1.01 million in grant funding, administered by the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture, is being awarded to seven Massachusetts food system enterprises in Hampden County. The recipients of the Food Security Infrastructure Grants will use the funding to help sustain Massachusetts’ food production and distribution and ensure all residents have access to fresh, healthy, local food.
Some of the grant recipients are McKinstry Market Garden, Inc., Fruit Fair Supermarket and The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, all located in Chicopee. The four Springfield organizations and businesses that received the grants are Rachel’s Table of Western Massachusetts, Wellspring Harvest Corporation, United Way of Pioneer Valley and La Arecibeña Torres Family Farm.
State Sen. Adam Gomez (D-Springfield), who represents parts of Springfield and Chicopee, said, “Our food system plays an integral role in our economy, cultural, public health, and future success. These grants are diverse in scope, and all aid in strengthening consumer’s relationship to the food they eat while ensuring that our producers, distributors, and other stakeholders can continue to provide the level of care and sustenance that Massachusetts residents rely on. I am proud of this administration’s continued commitment to strengthening our local infrastructure and shortening our food miles.”
One of the recipients is the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. The organization directly distributes food to those in need, while also providing food to 190 local food pantries and organizations across the four counties in Western Massachusetts.
“We’re providing more than 1 million meals a month,” said Executive Director Andrew Morehouse.
Morehouse said that even though inflation has come down from a high of 9.1% in 2022 to 2.4% in September, “folks are struggling. Those who are unemployed, underemployed or just don’t make ends meet.”
Morehouse said the 12-month average of people visiting pantries is 117,000 people monthly, an all-time high. The month of May saw the highest use in the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts’ 42-year history. Usage has been steadily increasing since the beginning of 2023, Morehouse said.
A total of 121,000 people visited food pantries in July, the latest month for which there is data. More than half of the people served by the Food Bank are children and seniors. The other half are mostly working adults.”
At the Northampton Survival Center, Executive Director Heidi Nortonsmith said the situation is similar.
“We have been seeing a steady increase in people coming to us over the past half year or so,” Nortonsmith said, adding that the question of why is not an easy one to answer. She speculated that the end of COVID-19-era benefits and higher costs for groceries are factors. “We are doing considerably more distributions than before the pandemic,” she said.
With a location in Northampton and another in Goshen, the Northampton Survival Center serves 3,500 people from 18 communities in Hampshire County. The Northampton Survival Center serves a large variety of clients. Many of the clients who use the “Hilltown” site in Goshen are from rural towns and about a third of them are age 65 and over, while the Northampton site sees a lot of students from the local colleges. Nortonsmith also said that while the pantry is always grateful for donations, “There’s plenty to go around. No one should ever feel like they should ‘save it for someone who needs it.’”
About half of the organization’s funding is from individual donors. The rest comes from grants and business donations. Nortonsmith said many businesses understand, “We all need a healthy community for a healthy economy.” Similarly, Morehouse said that tackling the root causes of food insecurity will take public-private partnerships. “It takes everybody to rally around our most vulnerable neighbors,” he said.
Morehouse said it is difficult to say how the next presidential administration might affect funding for food security programs. The last Donald Trump presidency coincided with the pandemic, during which food banks received an investment of federal funds. Looking forward, however, Morehouse said he is concerned for the future of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
SNAP is essential for many families, Morehouse said. “Some people’s incomes have gone up during inflation,” he said,” but not for everybody.” He particularly cited service jobs, such as restaurants, as not having kept pace with the cost of living. “They need relief if they’re going to put food on the table,” he said.
Reflecting on another food program, Morehouse said that without the state-funded universal free breakfast and lunch program in schools, “We’d see a lot more families.” Anecdotally, he said educators have told him children have been more nourished and ready to learn because of the program.
The $158,132 Food Security Infrastructure Grant received by the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts will be used to help purchase a refrigerated truck for the organization’s mobile food bank program. The trucks, which carry fresh and often local produce, are set up in parking lots in underserved areas and food deserts.
The USDA defines a “low-income and low-access census tract,” commonly known as a food desert, as an area “with at least 500 people, or 33% of the population, living more than 1 mile (in urban areas) or more than 10 miles (in rural areas) from the nearest supermarket, supercenter, or large grocery store.”
Eight of the organization’s 26 mobile food banks are dedicated to serving neighborhoods in Springfield that do not have immediate access to grocery stores.
About $8,000 of the grant will fund two “caterpillar tunnel” greenhouses for the Food Bank’s Hadley farm. The produce grown there will be distributed to two pantries in Amherst and United Way of the Pioneer Valley “Cupboards” in Springfield, Holyoke and Chicopee. The United Way of the Pioneer Valley also received a Food Security Infrastructure Grant.
In Northampton and Goshen, the method of distribution is quite different. Since 2022, the Northampton Survival Center has used three models of food distribution at its locations in Northampton and Goshen. People can order by phone or in person using a paper menu and can pick up during regular hours, use the by-appointment curbside pick-up option of receive a delivery for low-income, senior and disabled housing or to individual clients unable to get to the center due to disability or lack of transportation.
Nortonsmith said the Northampton Survival Center is “very proud” of its “choice model” of food assistance, which she called “the gold standard.” Rather than simply handing clients a large bag of standard, pre-packed groceries, the organization allows people to place an order by phone or paper menu. This allows them to choose their groceries, similar to how they would at a supermarket. The menu also lets people specify dietary for religious restrictions. The process promotes “dignity and respect,” she said.
There is a pervasive stigma around seeking assistance for hunger, which Nortonsmith said has been present throughout her 21-year career.
“There can be a lot of shame, a fear of judgement,” she said. Her organization vets its volunteers and trains them to serve clients with “a matter-of-fact warmth” and even “feel joyful about it.”
Morehouse said part of the stigma is based on ideas about who needs assistance. “More and more, we understand you can be working two or three jobs, minimum wage or even, not minimum wage, and it’s not enough because of the cost of living,” he said. “COVID highlighted the problem of food insecurity, when people couldn’t work and needed help. Everybody, almost, knows someone now who needs help putting food on the table.”
