Home Posts tagged Berkshire Bounty

Berkshire Bounty’s Spring Campaign Addresses Pressing Community Needs

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Daily News

GREAT BARRINGTON — Berkshire Bounty, a 501(c)(3) food access organization, will conduct a crowdfunding campaign on June 9-15 to raise funds and address urgent and growing community needs.

“With cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and increasing food costs, food insecurity rates continue to rise in Berkshire County. We get calls almost every day for more food,” said Morgan Ovitsky, executive director.

The “Spring Forward for Food Security” campaign aims to raise $75,000 for Berkshire Bounty. According to the Greater Boston Food Bank’s statewide food access survey and report, 39% of households in Berkshire County reported food insecurity in 2024, comparable to more than one in three households across Massachusetts.

While donations support day-to-day operations, Berkshire Bounty is focused on helping to fund these programs:

• Food Box Project: a collaboration with the Southern Berkshire and Berkshire Hills regional school districts and Berkshire County Head Start. These partners participate in the Food Box Project because the number of people in their service areas who face barriers to accessing feeding assistance programs is increasing.

• Farm to Food Access (F2FA): a partnership with Berkshire Grown to purchase and distribute food from local farmers designated as ‘socially disadvantaged’ to feeding assistance programs. Berkshire Bounty made a commitment to additional fundraising for F2FA, following the cessation of federal support for it.

“We’ve seen significant increases in the volume of participants in our programs,” said Mark Lefenfeld and Jay Weintraub, co-founders and board members. “Our fundraising allows us to serve our community.”

“Spring Forward for Food Security” is aided by the Donald C. McGraw Foundation, the Black Rock Foundation, and the Gilson Family Foundation, offering a $30,000 match, as well as a donation from Warrior Trading.

Donations can be made online by clicking here. For more information or to inquire about making a donation, email Sara Haimowitz, Berkshire Bounty’s director of Development, at [email protected].

Food Bank of Western Massachusetts Welcomes Berkshire Bounty as New Partner

By
Daily News

CHICOPEE — The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts announced a new partnership with Berkshire Bounty, a food rescue organization located in Great Barrington and dedicated to alleviating hunger throughout Berkshire County. The collaboration will enhance the effort to recover and distribute fresh, nutritious food to individuals and families county-wide.

Berkshire Bounty is a volunteer-driven organization that collects food from 25 local retailers and delivers it to 31 food-access sites across Berkshire County. With a network of 130 registered volunteers, Berkshire Bounty is on track to collect an estimated 450,000 pounds of food in 2024. Forty percent of this food is purchased to meet the needs of the community, including eggs, meat, fresh produce, dairy, and culturally appropriate foods.

“The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts recognized the important work of Berkshire Bounty in our shared mission to feed people in need and is thrilled to now be partners in this effort,” said Brandie Taggart, Food Donations coordinator at the Food Bank. “We look forward to forging a strong and lasting partnership with the team at Berkshire Bounty.”

This past spring, Berkshire Bounty and the Food Bank signed a memorandum of understanding to formalize the collaboration. Through this partnership, Berkshire Bounty volunteers are now transporting donated food from grocery stores directly to Food Bank member agencies, ensuring that food reaches food pantries and community kitchens four days a week. Since the beginning of the partnership, which started as a pilot program in January, nearly 50,000 pounds of food, valued at $90,000, have been collected and distributed.

“The partnership with FBWMA has opened the door to providing more food to the Berkshire County community in need,” said Morgan Ovitsky, executive director of Berkshire Bounty. “Together, we are working to increase the quantity of healthy, fresh food available to residents so they can thrive.”

The Food Bank and Berkshire Bounty will continue to identify additional retail stores, farms, and food donors to expand the food-rescue efforts. The partnership is expected to have a direct impact on reducing food insecurity in the Berkshires.