Local food pantries are stocking up prior to Food Bank of Western Massachusetts’ anticipated closing for its move | Local News

BECKET — In anticipation of the closure of the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts’ Hatfield location, Berkshire County pantries are stocking up.

The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts is relocating to Chicopee into newly built quarters that will more than double its space. Its existing location will close in the final week of August, reopening in Chicopee on Sept. 5. The Berkshire Bounty food rescue organization is holding a $10,000 crowdfunding campaign now through Aug. 22 in an effort to fill a food delivery gap caused by the temporary closure.

For most Berkshire County food pantries, the move is likely to be somewhat invisible — as their groceries from the Food Bank are delivered either directly to their door by the Food Bank, Goodwill Industries or to Pittsfield by Big Y with pickup at Berkshire Community Action Commission.

But a few, like the Becket Federated Church and Soldier On in Pittsfield, haul their own food from the Food Bank.

Jason Stump, executive director of food services at Soldier On, applauded the move, even though the commute will be a little longer.

“We have our vans and box trucks,” Stump said. “It’s simple for us. We just pick up in a different location. It might be a little farther, but it’s not an issue for us.”

Soldier On feeds more than 300 people a week through its food pantry. It also has a 165-bed shelter leased from the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Leeds, a 71-bed transitional living facility and a 39-unit housing cooperative called the Gordon H. Mansfield Veterans Community in Pittsfield, according to its website.

“We tend to go every week, and if the Food Bank closes for inventory or holidays, we just prep ahead of time and order what we need to order,” he said. “We never run out of food, so we’re good.”

Christina Maxwell, director of programs at the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, said the decision to move to Chicopee was practical. The Food Bank serves all four western counties in Massachusetts, with Springfield holding the largest population it serves. The Chicopee location at 25 Carew St. is located near the intersection of Interstate 91 and the Massachusetts Turnpike.

The new space will be 63,000 square feet, more than doubling the capacity of the Hatfield location with room for programming the current facility doesn’t have.

At the Becket Federated Church on Friday, volunteers made their final haul to Hatfield in anticipation of the move. 

Bill Vsetecka, who drove the pickup truck to Hatfield, said he expects the trip to be shorter for him once the Food Bank has relocated to Chicopee. The stocking trips take place three to four times a year.

The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts offers food at very low cost, and sometimes for free, to its member agencies.

“We did great today because most of it was free because they’re moving,” he said, as he began unpacking the truck with his wife, Kathy Vsetecka, and son Darin Vsetecka, along with Patti Boynton and the Rev. Bill Mulholland, pastor of the church.

“At certain times we can get almost all of this for nothing,” Kathy said. “Other times, I think the highest we paid this year was $160-some dollars.”

The volunteers pulled off cases of fruit juice, tomato sauce, peanut butter and cheese, among other staples.

“We like to get the meat when they have it,” she said, adding meat has been in short supply since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Becket pantry is open the first and third Saturdays.

“Anyone who comes in and says they have a need,” is open to use the pantry, Mulholland said. 

The Becket pantry serves a total of about 50 adults and children each time it is open and offers dinner packages for Christmas and Thanksgiving.

“We’ve had them come in from Worthington,” Mulholland said. “We take down the information. And if they say they haven’t eaten, we fill it.”

Looking ahead, Mulholland said he’s delighted that Becket has been chosen for a pilot mobile farmers market that will start in mid-September. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will be accepted there.

“What those folks will be able to do is go up to the Town Hall pavilion every Thursday, and they’ll be able to get a wide variety of vegetables,” Mulholland said. “It gives them way more fresh good stuff.”