Mountain View Farm’s partnership ensures access to fresh fruits and vegetables

At The Food Bank, we’re committed to creating a western Massachusetts where no one goes hungry and everyone has access to healthy food. Each year we distribute more than 10.5 million pounds of healthy food to our neighbors in need throughout the four counties of our region. Additionally, we collaborate with 25 local farms in The Pioneer Valley to get fresh local fruits and vegetables to households struggling to make ends meet.

Since 2009, we have enjoyed a very unique and important relationship with Mountain View Farm, a community supported agriculture farm in Easthampton. They lease use of our Food Bank Farm — a protected 60-acre parcel of land on the Connecticut River in Hadley — in exchange for at least 100,000 pounds of fresh, chemical-free produce for distribution. Last year, Mountain View Farm provided the equivalent of 91,129 meals.

“It is very important to us as farmers to partner with people and organizations in the community, like The Food Bank, that are doing essential work,” explains Liz Adler of Mountain View Farms. “We feel that making fresh, healthy, local produce available to families and individuals struggling with hunger is an important part of our mission as farmers and small business owners in the Pioneer Valley.”

One way that we are able to quickly provide this fresh produce to families across the region is through our Mobile Food Bank program, which delivers a truck full of fresh and non-perishable groceries from our warehouse directly to a community site for immediate distribution. When our Mobile Food Bank truck arrives at a distribution site, hundreds of local residents gather to receive free, fresh fruits and vegetables that otherwise might not be available to them.

“The Mobile Food Bank is wonderful,” says Rebecca Roman, the site coordinator for The Revival Time Evangelistic Center mobile distribution site in Springfield. “Being able to serve the community in such a great capacity, with healthy nutritious food, is just phenomenal. There are so many people that benefit from The Mobile Food Bank at The Revival Time Evangelistic Center.”

The Mobile Food Bank program is designed to reach underserved populations in the region that don’t have access to healthy foods, including seniors, children and hard-working families. Currently, it serves 20 distribution locations in western Massachusetts. In our last fiscal year (Oct. 1, 2016 – Sept. 30, 2017), The Mobile Food Bank provided the equivalent of 1,277,995 meals.