Here are some brief thoughts on recent happenings in Franklin County and the North Quabbin region.
On Thursday, a 53-foot trailer laden with 41,000 pounds of food is set to arrive at the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts warehouse in Hatfield, all the way from the Salt Lake City headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
The massive donation began at the family dinner tables of church members, including those living in the Greenfield area. Once a month, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are asked to fast for two meals and donate the amount they would have spent on the two meals as their “Fast Offering.” Those donations are used to support church-owned farms, ranches and factories that grow and process 90 percent of the food that will be on that truck, according to Lay Leader Robert Doty of Greenfield. Doty cited the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, with its well-organized network of food pantries, mobile distribution sites and meal sites, as a logical choice for the large donation.
The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts reports that it has already distributed 19 percent more emergency food in March and April this year compared with the same months last year. Food Bank Executive Director Andrew Morehouse said he suspects this demand will continue to increase as unemployment remains high.
In Franklin County, 14 percent of the population, or 9,650 individuals, are considered food-insecure, an increase of 53 percent, or 3,330 people. For children, 20 percent, or 2,480, are considered food insecure, representing a 71 percent increase. Donations of food and money support Brown Bag: Food for Elders sites, mobile food pantries and various agencies and nonprofits, including the Franklin County Community Meals Program.
As Doty said, in a press release, “It is a long trek from the tables of our church members to the tables of our neighbors in need, but it is amazing what can be accomplished when people of good will step forward and join with their neighbors to act on the admonition to love one another.”
Speaking of hunger nonprofits, the Franklin County Community Meals Program said good-bye to Executive Director Andrea Leibson last week. During her four-year tenure at the agency, Leibson oversaw increases in support among local community groups and partners, donors, grantors and foundations. Leibson was instrumental in the creation of the Greenfield Community College Pantry. Leibson said she was most proud of her efforts in Orange, where the pantry received numerous grants to improve its operations and expand its refrigeration and food storage capacity. Marian Boyd, president of the board, said Leibson did an “amazing job” in her time as executive director.
Most recently Leibson has been introducing her successor, Rachel Berggren of Amherst, to the job. Berggren has cultivated a career specializing in food access by working at farmers markets, leading nutrition education workshops and developing the Whole Harvest Project, a regional food security project to connect Valley farmers, institutions and campus food pantries, among her other accomplishments.
The web of relationships that feed the hungry and tackle the root causes of food insecurity is wide and complex, from donors like the local members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to countless unsung volunteers manning our local food pantries. Morehouse, Leibson and now Berggren are among the vanguard of this mission.