Multiple grant awards bring more food to the table for hungry neighbors

The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts is excited to announce that we are the recipients of multiple grants to support our mission “to feed our neighbors in need and lead the community to end hunger.” Donations from individuals, businesses, foundations, civic organizations, faith-based groups and government are crucial in meeting yearly operational costs and ensuring that everyone has access to healthy food.

The Charles H. Farnsworth Charitable Trust awarded The Food Bank $15,000 to support nutrition education and outreach and their Brown Bag: Food for Elders program, which provides a free bag of healthy groceries to approximately 7,250 seniors once a month at local senior centers and community organizations.

The Joy in Childhood Foundation awarded The Food Bank $6,000 to support our Mobile Food Bank program, which delivers a truck full of free fresh and non-perishable groceries from our warehouse directly to a community site for immediate distribution to residents. Last year, the Mobile Food Bank provided the equivalent of 1,277,995 meals throughout the region.

Awards from The Highland Street Foundation ($24,000), The Linde Family Foundation ($15,000) and The Boston Foundation ($10,000) will support The Food Bank’s general expenses to get more healthy food to more people in Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden and Hampshire counties.

“We are extremely grateful for these generous awards,” says Andrew Morehouse, Executive Director at The Food Bank. “These grants will allow us to support our local partners in the emergency food network, distribute more healthy food to our neighbors in need, and continue to be a reliable resource for people who may not know where their next meal is coming from.”

Currently, more than 223,000 people in western Massachusetts are affected by food insecurity. Nearly 1/3 of those people are children under the age of 18, and approximately 15% are seniors over the age of 65. In the 12 – month period from Oct. 1, 2016 – Sept. 30, 2017, The Food Bank distributed 10.8 million pounds of food — the equivalent of approximately 9,000,000 meals.