The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts

Food operations, delivery, and brown bag: The Food Bank received 14,208,379 pounds of Food and provided 13,273,516 pounds, which is The equivalent of 11,061,264 meals, to approximately 241 frontline Food providers, including Food pantries, meal sites, shelters and other social service programs. Ultimately, this Food assistance network distributed Food to 99,000 individuals monthly who experienced hunger or who were at risk of hunger in The four counties of Western ma. of The total Food distributed, The Food Bank used its own trucks to distribute 1,898,062 pounds of Food (equivalent to 1,581,719 meals) to 76 frontline Food providers - 1) 25 mobile Food Bank sites serving 20,698 individuals; 23% children and 32% seniors, and 2) 51 brown bag: Food for elder sites and 37 satellites - The Food Bank's "pantry on wheels" program serving 4,680 elders.

Nutrition education: provided workshops and materials to both participants and staff of The Food assitance network to educate people to eat healthier on a limited budget, including supermarket tours for people to learn how to shop on a budget, read nutrition labels, and understand unit pricing.

Support for local Food providers: The Food Bank offered technical support, professional workshops on fundraising, volunteer management, and trainings in Food safety to member Food providers. It also provided capacity-building activities for members with The goal of helping them increase efficiency and The amount of Food distributed. To carry out this program, The following services/trainings were provided:(1) institute trainings for members in areas such as, fundraising, volunteer management, advocacy, disaster planning, and best practices. (2) network coalition meetings that strengthened The Food assistance network in Western Massachusetts by periodically bringing members together to receive updates from both The Food Bank and feeding america, and allowing these organizations to network with each other, as well as to learn about best practices. (3) snap outreach and enrollment educated community members about snap (formerly Food stamps) and assisted potentially eligible individuals through The application process. In fy 23 The Food Bank submitted for approval 881 applications to The Massachusetts department of transitional assistance with a 68.3% approval rate. (4) provided small capacity building grants to assist members provide more Food to their guests. (5)food assistance navigation provided Food assistance to 463 individuals referred through masshealth programs and 487 individuals referred by other providers.

The Food Bank staff and volunteers screen individuals for eligibility and assist them with The snap application process, including case management.