GREENFIELD — Over the course of the lasting COVID-19 pandemic, Hillside Pizza has worked with the Greenfield Salvation Army to meet increased need, providing more than 8,700 meals to residents in the process.
Amy White, co-owner of Hillside Pizza with her husband, Craig, said they have worked with the Salvation Army on Chapman Street in Greenfield for years. At the start of the public health crisis, they were concerned about food insecurity in Franklin County.
“We knew the lockdown meant the sudden and complete loss of many of the usual food sources for Greenfield Salvation Army’s noonday meals — leftovers and surplus from local private schools like Northfield Mount Hermon, Bement, Deerfield and Eaglebrook, that were now closed,” White said.
Looking to help make up the difference, Hillside Pizza — which has branches in Bernardston, South Deerfield and Hadley — contacted the Greenfield Salvation Army offering to contribute to its weekday lunch program. The Whites delivered their first pizzas on Friday, March 13, 2020. The next week they began providing lunches on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, serving between 25 and 30 adults per day.
Because the Salvation Army’s usual buffet and dining room were closed due to pandemic restrictions, the Whites “went beyond pizza.” They provided hot meals of stuffed shells, barbecue pulled pork, macaroni and cheese and, of course, one lunch each week was still pizza.
In May, Hillside Pizza began including 300 pieces of fruit each week to augment regular donations of apples from Apex Orchards. Meanwhile, regular guests increased to about 75 each day. On May 22, the Whites said their hearts “broke open in a new way” when a young boy asked Craig if he could take two oranges, so he could have an extra one for the weekend.
“The lunch program was closed for Memorial Day weekend,” White added.
Knowing the next meal would be served in four days, White said they thought of this child having to wait for a piece of fruit and it changed them. Upon hearing this story, an “angel donor” gave $1,000 to start “Fruit Fridays,” providing extra fruit for families to take home.
In August, Lt. Paul Leslie, and his wife, Lt. Emily Leslie, became the new directors of the Salvation Army in Greenfield, taking over for Capts. Scott and Karen Peabody. Paul Leslie began cooking the Friday meals himself as a way to get to know the regular client base, and Hillside Pizza reduced lunch services to Wednesdays and Thursdays while continuing Fruit Fridays.
Entering the fall, the meal program continued to gain traction, serving 100 people each day. A friend of the Whites heard about the meals and began baking more than 200 cookies each week, delivering them in wrapped packages of two for safe distribution with the meals.
“Knowing that the Salvation Army would be closed for Thanksgiving, friends approached us offering their farm-grown produce and brainstormed an idea with us to package cooked meals for families of four,” White continued.
The packages included half of a 14-pound roast turkey, stuffing, 5 pounds of mashed potatoes, butternut squash, green beans and a homemade pumpkin pie. White said the Salvation Army was able to offer this take-home meal to 20 families in need who were not among their “usual” guests.
By December, the daily meal program at Greenfield’s Salvation Army increased to 120 per day, including children. As the pandemic carries on, the Whites have offered the ability to buy food at wholesale prices, allowing the Salvation Army to order through them and supplement its pantry in the event of diminishing donations. To meet the increased need and fulfill their commitments into 2021, the Whites launched a Fundly page at bit.ly/3amud6x to collect donations.
“One month in, we have raised $2,100 toward our goal of $10,000,” White said. “We are committed to doing as much as we can, sharing 100 percent of what we receive directly with the Salvation Army and the Franklin County Community Meals Program.”
The Whites have spoken with Franklin County Community Meals Program Director Rachel Berggren about possible partnerships, after initially providing food to help families get through the Thanksgiving weekend.
“Around the holidays they reached out and provided us with 20 frozen pizzas and holiday meals for our food pantry in Orange, Berggren recounted.
Berggren said the growing partnership may see Hillside Pizza continue offering “take and bake” frozen pizzas to stock freezers at the Orange Food Pantry. The Whites have also offered the ability to buy food at wholesale prices for the Franklin County Community Meals Program, as they have done for the Salvation Army, and to make other contributions as they are able based on donations.
Additionally, Berggren said the meals program may partner with Hillside Organic Catering to serve food at its Orange meal site. These plans are still being finalized, but Berggren said more information will be made public in the coming weeks.
Zack DeLuca can be reached at zdeluca@recorder.com or 413-930-4579.