About the Move
For over 40 years, the Food Bank has been partnering with the community to receive, store, and distribute nutritious food and address the underlying causes of hunger in Western Massachusetts. Our Hatfield location has served us well, but the Food Bank outgrew the space years ago. Our warehouse was simply not equipped to handle the volume of food that moved through our facility each year, preventing us from carrying out our mission effectively and efficiently. On the office side, our staff had grown so much that we did not have workspaces for everyone, or adequate parking for staff, visitors, and volunteers.
Food Bank volunteers on a tour of the new building, overlooking the warehouse space from the mezzanine.
Our new larger, greener Food Distribution Center and Headquarters in Chicopee enables the Food Bank to provide more healthy food to more people more equitably, enhance efficiency, and deepen our engagement with the community to confront the underlying causes of hunger. Here’s how:
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Food Bank warehouse staff touring the new space for the first time.
Our new home provides an additional 32,500+ square feet overall – twice the size of our Hatfield facility! The warehouse has 18,000 additional square feet, with larger sections for dry, refrigerated, and frozen products. We have 9 loading docks, compared to the 2 in Hatfield.
- The parking lot has space for more than 100 vehicles and will include electric charging stations.
- Green technology features include heat pumps and solar panels on our roof that will generate much, if not all, the electricity we need.
Our new home is an important milestone in our evolution to advance our mission for decades to come. We moved into our new Distribution Center and Headquarters during the week of August 28th and began operations in Chicopee on September 5th.
Move FAQ's
How did the Food Bank fund the move?
In January 2022, the Food Bank launched the Feed, Lead, and Strengthen Capital Campaign to raise funds to build and equip a larger and greener Distribution Center and Headquarters. We raised nearly $30 million dollars through the generosity of public, corporate and individual donors. We are grateful for the support of our neighbors and friends who share our vision of a Western Massachusetts where no one faces food insecurity, and everyone always has access to nutritious food.
A early rendering of the new building. Some aspects of the color scheme have changed, but the overall design has remained the same.
The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts serves Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden and Hampshire counties –2,700 square miles, including the Commonwealth’s third largest city (Springfield) and some of its smallest and most rural towns (population under 500). Easily accessible from the Mass Pike and other highways, the Food Bank’s new Chicopee home enables us to meet the needs of all the rural, suburban, and urban communities of Western Massachusetts more efficiently.
Andrew Morehouse, Executive Director, sums up what we all feel at The Food Bank:
Legislators, donors, city officials, Food Bank staff and partners gathered to celebrate the groundbreaking of the new facility in the summer of 2022.
“We’re in awe of the overwhelming support we received for our future home in Chicopee from so many individuals, businesses, and foundations across all four counties of Western Massachusetts and beyond as well as significant investments from state and federal governments and support from the City of Chicopee. No small part of this achievement was the exceptional hard work of the committed volunteer members of our county capital campaign teams. We thank them all!”
What happened to the Hatfield facility?
We are pleased to announce that our Hatfield building has sold to Myers Produce, a woman-owned New England fresh produce distributor and trucking company operating out of hubs in Northern Vermont, Western Massachusetts, and Brooklyn, NY. The strategic decision to sell the building marks a significant milestone for both organizations. Myers Produce moved into the Hatfield facility in September.
Myers Produce has a longstanding commitment to bolstering access to fresh farm produce from Western Massachusetts. With this strategic move, Myers Produce took a significant step towards expanding the purchase of food from local growers and producers, and then transporting and reselling it to businesses throughout the region and beyond. Moving to Hatfield created local employment opportunities and placed Myers Produce closer to farmlands and nearer to highways that connect to its wholesale customers in New York City, Boston, the Hudson Valley, and throughout Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont.
How did this affect the Food Bank's distributions and partner organizations?
The Food Bank worked with all of our member food pantries and meal sites to ensure a smooth transition between warehouses. If a partner received a delivery, they continued to receive delivery on the same day as the current schedule. The time of the delivery might have changed slightly to accommodate a different travel time from Chicopee, and agencies who saw a change were informed.
With time, we plan to expand our routes to provide delivery to more of our partners, especially those who are farther away from Chicopee, utilizing a new truck and vans added to our fleet.
Food Bank network members are encouraged to reach out to Agency Relations at agencyrelations@foodbankwma.org with questions about the move.
How did this affect volunteers and Food Bank events?
Volunteers at the Food Bank began shifts at the new location on September 6th. Volunteers for our Cultivating for Community regenerative farming and education initiative did not see a change as all of their work is done on the second Food Bank Farm in Hadley. For questions about volunteering and the move, reach out to Food Bank Volunteer Coordinator Alex Santiago at alexs@foodbankwma.org.
At present there are no planned changes to the time and location of upcoming events such as Will Bike 4 Food. For questions about events and the move, reach out to Food Bank Event Coordinator Risley Dudley at risleyd@foodbankwma.org.
What is the Food Bank's new physical address, mailing address, and phone number?
As of September 5th 2023, the Food Bank’s physical and mailing address is:
Food Bank of Western Massachusetts
25 Carew Street
Chicopee, MA 01020
Our phone number is currently unchanged, the Food Bank can still be reached at 413-247-9738.
