March 5, 2022
Winter is generally a slow time of the year, but not for food insecurity. In fact, the number of recent shoppers at food pantries in Berkshire County has been growing. Many people say that the rise in prices for fresh fruit and vegetables has been a contributing factor. We’ve also noticed that our food collections from our supermarkets partners have declined over the last year, especially in recent months. It’s possible that the increase in prices for fruits and vegetables is causing the supermarkets to control their buying and inventories more tightly. Despite this recent trend, we continue to purchase food at historically high levels, and will search for new methods for buying and distributing food. For example, we are now partnering with Berkshire United Way to do a countywide food distribution during early April that was previously postponed due to COVID.
Our partnership with the Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts (JFS) to provide culturally appropriate food for Afghan refugees being resettled in Berkshire County is working smoothly. We continue to regularly provide food to the Afghan families in need and will do the same thing for the families that move to the Berkshires in the future. We thank our donors who provide the funding for this important program.
Our latest monthly food drive, on March 1st, yielded approximately 1,000 pounds of canned and packaged goods which was delivered to local food pantries. Thanks go to the food donors, the volunteer drivers, and the Claire Teague Senior Center who made a substantial food donation to this month’s food drive.
Berkshire Bounty has grown substantially in recent years. In order to continue that growth and help Berkshire Bounty become a sustainable organization, we have launched a search for our first Executive Director. If you know anyone who may be interested in this fulltime position, please ask them to email admin@berkshirebounty.org (no hyphen) to request a job description and application instructions.
Berkshire Bounty Contact Information: info@berkshire-bounty.org; 33 Commonwealth Avenue, Great Barrington, MA 01230; Mark Lefenfeld: 413 717-5842, Jay Weintraub: 201 306-1964, Jenny Schwartz: 917 272-7039.
