Multiple grant awards put more meals on the table for food insecure households
The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts has recently been awarded multiple grants to support our mission “to feed our neighbors in need and lead the community to end hunger.” We rely on donations from individuals, businesses, foundations, civic organizations, faith-based groups and government to meet our yearly operational expenses and ensure that everyone has access to healthy food.
Awards from The Frederick E. Weber Charities Corporation ($4,000), Chicopee Savings Bank Charitable Foundation ($3,000) and The Jack & Pauline Freeman Foundation ($2,000) will support our 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.
Volunteers at the Dunbar Center in Springfield begin to pack brown paper bags with food, to be distributed to local seniors through The Food Bank’s Brown Bag: Food for Elders program.
Awards from The TJX Foundation ($11,334) and The Boston Foundation ($10,000) will support our 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.