ORANGE — People with the Franklin County Community Meals Program say they have reached out to Rodney Hunt Co.’s parent company to help offset an expected spike in need following the manufacturing plant’s closure planned for the end of 2016.
But Andrea Leibson, the meals program’s executive director, said she and board president Jack Golden have not heard back from Rexnord Corp. regarding any sort of contribution. Trying to get through to Rexnord is one way Leibson and Golden told visiting U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern he could help assist in their efforts.
McGovern stopped by the Orange Food Pantry, one of the meals program’s two pantries, on Thursday to see volunteers in action and hear from those involved. Leibson and Golden said the 200 jobs Rodney Hunt plans to send elsewhere would further harm a struggling community. Leibson said the pantry receives donations and is in partnership with supermarkets.
McGovern, a Democrat who represents the 2nd Congressional District of Massachusetts, said he prides himself on fighting for people struggling with hunger and food insecurity. He told Leibson and Golden their work is vital to the community.
“The people who come here don’t fit a stereotype. You get everybody, from people who don’t have jobs to people who do have jobs but earn so little they can’t afford to make ends meet,” he said. “You’ve got people who are here getting food for young people, for kids, and for older people and we see a spike (in) food insecurity and hunger among senior citizens. And sometimes in these rural areas, it’s especially tough.”
Leibson and Golden first showed McGovern how the pantry operates and then stepped into an air-conditioned side room where stacked boxes of food are stacked are separated by a soft black sheet thumb-tacked to the door frame.
Leibson told The Recorder the pantry is open every Thursday morning. People come in, register and collect their food when their number is called. Bags prepared in advance with food are meant for one or two people and boxes are intended for parties of three to five. People also get a variable array of other food to choose from. Each family is allowed one visit per month. Leibson said the Orange pantry averages about 100 people a week.
According to a sign posted on a wall, the pantry distributed 262,538 pounds of food to 16,145 people in 5,333 families in 2015.
Leibson said Orange is exempt from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) restriction that forces able-bodied adults without dependents out of the program after three months and makes them ineligible to re-enter for three years. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s website, most SNAP participants have jobs if they are able to work. Two-thirds of participants are children, senior citizens or those with disabilities. Forty-three percent of SNAP participants live in a household with earnings, according to the website.
McGovern said food pantry donations when he was growing up were primarily junk food or food about to expire. But now, he said, there is an appreciation that everyone needs nutritious food.
“So you’re getting this kind of stuff,” he said, holding up a bunch of Stag Brand cauliflower in the air-conditioned side room, “which oftentimes would be thrown away by supermarkets. This could have ended up in a Dumpster or a landfill.”
McGovern said Americans waste 40 percent of the food they produce.
He also said the federal government should do more to battle food insecurity, though the Franklin County Community Meals Program is a great example of a local effort making a huge difference.
“We all need to be the wind at their back,” he said. “I don’t think anybody in this country should have to worry about where their next meal is coming from. I think we ought to view food as a right, not as a privilege.”
He said he knows many members of Congress have never visited a food bank. He declined to name any, but said looking at their voting records can be telling.
Golden said he met McGovern at a food benefit last year and asked how he could help.
“We’re so lucky to have Congressman McGovern representing us. and he’s so genuine about trying to combat hunger,” Golden said. “It makes you feel like you’ve go an ally.”