A few years ago, Congressman Jim McGovern toured the region’s farms touting an initiative that would allow those who received a food budget through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to spend their benefits buying fresh produce at local farmers’ markets.
It was an innovative approach to meeting the nutritional needs of vulnerable populations — creative, but unsurprising, given the region’s affinity for compassion, especially when it comes to those facing food insecurity.
From WRSI The River radio host Monte Belmont’s annual Monte’s March hunger walk, to Greenfield’s pay-what-you-can Stone Soup Cafe, to semi-annual food drives promoted by local personalities around the holiday season, confronting hunger is at the forefront of Franklin County’s social attention.
“We all share resources,” said Kirsten Levitt, executive director of Stone Soup Cafe, during an event about hunger needs hosted by the Franklin County Young Professionals earlier this month. “The people of Franklin County care about each other.”
Whenever there’s a need, organizations across the region seem to rise unbidden and inconspicuously to meet the challenge with compassionate urgency.
The ongoing pandemic is one such example.
Before stay-at-home orders, Stone Soup Cafe served between 150 and 200 meals from its kitchen in All Souls Church every Saturday. Throughout the pandemic, 400 to 500 meals have been picked up or delivered.
At the forum, Gill-Montague Regional School District Food Supervisor Liana Pleasant and Greenfield School Department Food Service Director Eliza Calkins said they are working to keep children’s bellies full seven days a week.
“I’ve witnessed the tears and desperation,” Pleasant said. “I’ve also witnessed the selflessness and generosity of our community.”
Pleasant noted that the pandemic brought hunger more into the spotlight, and so many have stepped up to help.
It’s an infrastructure model that local and state leaders say could be applied to the nation at large.
We agree.
Anytime there’s a need, resources seem to materialize from thin air. Generosity is at the heart of Franklin County— and that generosity is leveraged into impactful change by organizations like Community Action, which operates the Center for Self-Reliance Food Pantry in Greenfield, and businesses such as Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee Co. in Orange, which this year has made it a mission to tackle childhood hunger.
“What is the role of business?” said Dean Cycon, founder of the coffee company. “We are a social justice organization. We don’t advertise it, we just do it.”
As hunger needs continue to be compounded by this terrible pandemic, we hope that state and local leaders will take note of the unsung but imperative work being done locally. Having enough to eat is a basic human right.
No one should go to bed hungry.
“Hunger is not a new problem,” McGovern said. “It was here long before the pandemic. It’s a political condition. We have the money, but it goes to tax cuts for big companies and to build missiles. … We need a national food policy. We should have a White House conference on food and hunger. We’ll end it with a holistic plan.”