Page 38 - BusinessWest April 18, 2022
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                                “This is a project we’ve been plan- ning for probably six years, when we realized we were beginning to run out of space here at the facility in Hatfield. So we began the process of figuring out what we needed to do,” he told Busi- nessWest. “Do we want to expand the facility in Hatfield or purchase or build a second facility in Hampden County? Can we operate two facilities? If we can’t, are we prepared to move to the Springfield area?”
About three years ago, the Food Bank decided to move to Hampden County, for multiple reasons. “One is because it’s right at the crossroads of two major interstates, which facilitates
loads of food to and from the Food Bank. We distribute large amounts of food, tens of thousands of pounds of food every day — over a million pounds every month.”
In addition, Hampden County boasts the region’s largest concentra- tion of people facing food insecurity. “For that reason as well, we said, ‘we really need to be in Hampden County,’” Morehouse explained. “We’ve been
an upper Pioneer Valley organization, even though we serve all four coun- ties, and this affords us the opportu- nity to raise our visibility in Hampden County.”
More than two years ago, the Food
Bank honed in on a building for sale on Carando Drive in Springfield and made an offer to purchase, but backed out after the inspection stage. “So we went back to the drawing board,” he said, and that process eventually brought the nonprofit to a parcel of land at the Chicopee River Business Park owned by Westmass Area Development Corp.
The space is plentiful — 16.5 acres, 9.5 of which are buildable, the rest pro- tected as wetlands and greenspace. The Dennis Group had begun designing a building well before the land purchase (Thomas Douglas Architects also had
a hand in the design), and C.E. Floyd, based in Bedford, will do the construc-
tion, with groundbreaking, as noted, likely to happen next month and the new facility expected to open in March or April 2023, with move-in complete by that summer.
“It’s twice the size of our current facility, which gives us the capac-
ity to receive, store, and distribute more healthy food to more people for decades to come,” Morehouse said.
Special Deliveries
The Food Bank’s reach is impressive, serving as a clearinghouse of emergen- cy food for all four counties of Western Mass., most distributed to local food pantries, meal sites, and shelters.
“It’s important to note that more than 50% of the food we distribute
is perishable foods, like vegetables and frozen meats,” Morehouse noted. “And a lot of the non-perishable food is very healthy grains, pastas, beans, and nutritious canned food items, low in salt and sugar, for people who don’t have time to cook.”
Much of the food the organiza-
tion collects is purchased, using state and federal funds, from wholesalers, local supermarkets, and three dozen local farms, from which the Food Bank purchased more than a half-million pounds of vegetables last year using state funds; farmers also donate anoth- er half-million pounds each year.
“It’s right at the crossroads of two major interstates, which facilitates loads of food to and from the Food Bank. We distribute large amounts of food, tens of thousands of pounds of food every day — over
a million pounds every month.”
“We’ve also increased our own capacity to distribute food directly,” Morehouse said. “Since the late ’80s, we’ve been providing food to seniors in 51 senior centers across all four coun- ties, and we continue to do that. Every month, we send a truck and provide bags of groceries to 6,500 elders — about 16 food items to supplement elders who lived on fixed incomes. And in the last six or seven years, we initiat- ed a mobile food bank where we send a truck once or twice a month to 26 sites in the four counties — 10 in Hampden County — and provide fresh vegetables and other food items to individuals who live in food deserts, neighbor- hoods that don’t have grocery stores where they can buy healthy food.”
The federal government responded
       Over the last 100 years, United Way Pioneer Valley has worked tirelessly toward ending food insecurity. They have made it possible for millions of people to receive hot meals and bags of food by funding food pantries, recruiting volunteers, and providing food directly. In 2021, UWPV opened the Springfield Community Service Center which now houses their Emergency Food Pantry.
On June 2nd, we are hosting a FREE luncheon to celebrate these past 100 years and look ahead to our second century.
Register, sponsor, or donate today! LEARN MORE uwpv.org/100th
       1441 Main Street, Suite 147 Springfield, MA 01103 www.uwpv.org | 413.737.2691
              38 APRIL 18, 2022
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