GREATER SPRINGFIELD – Andrew Morehouse, the executive director of the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, said the organization is currently seeing a 35 percent increase in demand for food. The $125,000 donation from the Antonacci Family Foundation is coming at a critical time.

At the formal presentation on May 5 at Trinity Methodist Church in Springfield, Frank Antonacci, the COO of USA Waste & Recycling and the spokesperson for the foundation, made the donation to the Food Bank.

He said, referring to the pandemic and its effects, “This is a moment we never thought we’d find ourselves in.”

Morehouse said for every dollar donated to the Food Bank four meals can be generated. The Food Bank partners with emergency food pantries, hot meals sites and shelters in 29 communities in Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties.

The donation will be used for the foundation’s Millions of Meals initiative. In a written statement, Antonacci said, “Our family is deeply committed to supporting the communities in which we live and work. When we saw the toll this pandemic was taking on our neighbors, friends and co-workers, we knew we had to act. With more and more people from all walks of life struggling with food insecurity due to COVID-19, it has never been more important to support the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts.”

Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno described the donation as “massive and tremendous.”

The Antonacci family owns a number of businesses in Western Massachusetts and northern Connecticut including GreatHorse, Lindy Farms and USA Waste & Recycling, and established the charitable foundation to support programs in communities where their employees and customers live.

Antonacci said he hopes other people and organizations will step up to help make a difference.

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 In the wake of COVID-19 business closures and layoffs, the need for food assistance is growing in cities and suburbs, among the middle-class and low-income. In response, the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, which maintains a warehouse in Hatfield, is stepping up its efforts to keep local food pantries and mobile food distribution units running and supplied with resources to help Western Mass. communities.

“In March, we saw a 23 percent increase in the amount of food we are distributing, over March 2019,” Lillian Baulding, Communications and Engagement officer for the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts told Reminder Publishing. She said the Food Bank had recently placed an order for four truckloads of emergency canned meals to help meet the growing need for food assistance across the valley, with the first truckload arriving the week of April 20. “That will probably be enough for one month,” she noted, adding that the Food Bank expected to receive the other three trucks once order processing was complete.

“It takes some time,” she said, adding that everyone is welcome to come to a food pantry when they need assistance. There are no pre-registrations, the only requirement is to “bring your own bags,” she said.

This growing need for food assistance comes at a time when the Food Bank and its affiliated pantries – as well as its mobile food distribution network – are facing their own challenges created by COVID-19. Baulding said because of health and safety rulings from the CDC and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the Food Bank cannot rely on local food drives to help fill its shelves. Also, because many of the volunteers who staff area food pantries and the Food Bank’s mobile food distribution sites are elders, some locations – such as the weekly distribution site at the Trinity United Methodist Church parking lot on Sumner Avenue in Springfield – have had to temporarily suspend operations.

“A lot of [elders] don’t feel comfortable now, being out there in community volunteering,” Baulding shared. “Those organizations are saying, ‘we are going to cancel for a while.’”

She said the decision to suspend their operations has not been an easy one for mobile and on-site pantries. “It’s extremely upsetting for them to call and say ‘we just can’t do it right now,’” she said. It’s equally upsetting for pantry patrons who may travel to a familiar site to find the pantry or mobile distribution closed.

“We are reaching out to some of these organizations that have closed to [ask] if we provide some extra volunteers, would they consider reopening,” she said, adding that the Food Bank’s engagement organizer has been working to match volunteers with potential sites. The mobile distribution site at Beaudoin Village on Leary Street in Holyoke was an example of such a partnership. It reopened the week of April 20 with volunteers supplied by the Food Bank, Baulding said.The Trinity site reopened as a drive-up May 6.

In all instances where Food Bank supported pantries and distribution sites are operating, Baulding said volunteers are following strict health and safety guidelines, including social distancing requirements. She said this might result in a slower process than pantry patrons are accustomed to.

The Food Bank is also continuing its Brown Bag food distribution program for elders on Social Security and individuals who receive disability assistance from SSI, although not all regular locations are open for pick-up at this time. “This is a membership program,” Baulding said, adding that to be registered to receive a monthly Brown Bag, elders must meet certain income requirements. Right now those bags are being packed by staff at the Food Bank warehouse, and delivered to open sites, which are conducting the distribution outdoors in as contactless a way as possible. ‘If they drive up, volunteers are placing the bag in their trunk,” she said.

How to find an open pantry or Brown Bag site

Baulding said individuals looking for an open food pantry or the closest Brown Bag distribution site should check the listings on the Food Bank website, foodbankwma.org, under the “find a meal” program. She said the listings, which do change as circumstances evolve, are updated regularly. Those without internet access can call the Food Bank’s main number, 247-9738 for assistance finding a pantry or Brown Bag distribution site.

“Unfortunately, because of the situation, someone’s favorite pantry may be closed for a couple of weeks,” Baulding said. “We are working with pantries to help them open; we have an agency relation program to see how we can help [them] with safety guidelines they need assistance with, perhaps we can help provide volunteers for distribution.

“We are all working very hard to get programs up and running as safely as possible and as fast as possible,’ she said.

 How you can help

Although Baulding said direct donations of food items are not being accepted because of current health and safety rulings, individuals can still help provide food for their neighbors by making a cash donation to the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts through the homepage on their website, foodbankwma.org. She said the amount needn’t be large to be of help.

 “Five dollars is 20 meals; if you are feeding an individual, that’s a lot of meals for a week,” she said. “One dollar could feed a family of four dinner.

“A lot of people are reaching out and it is great to be seeing the community support,” Baulding added.

The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts is a member of FeedingAmerica.org, the nation’s largest nonprofit domestic hunger relief organization working to alleviate hunger through a network of 200 member food banks and 60,000 pantries and meal programs nationwide. Baulding said on a recent call with that agency, she learned Feeding America is projecting a $1.4 billion budget shortfall because of the coronavirus.

She added the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts and other Feeding America member agencies have already delivered a total of 93.3 million meals nationwide since the beginning of the pandemic, which represents a 104 percent increase in the need for food assistance across the country.

Michael Dobbs contributed to this story.