Tuesday, August 1, 2017

In Confusing Times, We Stay Focused on Our Mission

Paul Jennings, at left, drove the truck back and forth from Hatfield today. That's our Food Distribution Coordinator Rich Davis at right in the green shirt.

Today on Tuesday, Aug. 1, we unloaded more than 6,500 lbs. of food from the Foodbank of Western Massachusetts in Hatfield. We definitely needed this food after serving a total of 194 households on Wednesday, July 26.

Thanks to all our great volunteers and supporters, who have kept the Friendship Center Food Pantry going strong since it opened in February 2011.

It's that time of year when we plan our annual fundraising letter campaign. We are an all-volunteer organization and we keep costs down, true, but it takes money to keep all that necessary food coming in.

In 2016, we served 1,007 unique households consisting of 2,863 individuals. We served an average of 130 households per week. We distributed 290,696 lbs. of food. The average amount spent on food weekly was $2,730.

In addition to providing food, we also make services available at the Eagle Street Room of First Baptist Church North Adams. These include a nurse from Berkshire Medical Center and numerous others.

In recent years, to help people get home with their groceries, our volunteers have started a rides program. As I wrote to those involved a few months ago to thank them: "We gave our food pantry friends 1,312 rides in 2016. In December, we provided 109 volunteer rides. The month with the greatest number of rides was November (five weeks) at 156; February was the lowest month with 74 rides."

At $7 per ride, if we used a local taxi, this number of rides would have cost $9,184 -- a cost we could not and would not have borne. Yet, as we give an average of 35+ lbs. of food per household in a hilly area, these rides are an enormous service to our members.”

Those not on our mailing list who would like to support us, may made a tax-deductible contribution to the Friendship Center Food Pantry and mail it to The Friendship Center, 45 Eagle St., North Adams, MA 01247.


At work today, Rich Wolfe, standing, and Jocelyn Barrett, seated behind door are expert at shelving and refrigerating the food.

September Meeting

In this turbulent era, we have decided that it remains important to keep as many forums for dialogue open as possible. With this in mind, our public interfaith meetings will resume in September. Our next public interfaith meeting will be held on Friday, Sept. 15. Our topic will be an update on the federal and state funding picture for program for those in need. The meeting will be held at the Eagle Street Room of FBNA and begin at 10 a.m.

With the possibility of deep cuts in safety net programs – such as the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program – we fear the number of people in need in our community may increase dramatically. Working together is the best way to meet this crisis – if it indeed comes.

For more information, contact northernberkshireinterfaith@gmail.com or call Mark at 413-664-0130 and leave a message.

Thanks for Everything. Keep the Faith and God Bless,

Mark