With food insecurity impacting 50% of the households in Franklin and Hampshire counties, Rachel’s Table of Western Massachusetts is calling on community members to help ensure every family can have a Thanksgiving meal.
On Oct. 17, Rachel’s Table launched its annual food and fundraising drive for the Bruce and Daydie Hochberg Thanksgiving Project, which, since 2007, has been providing turkeys and fixings for families across western Massachusetts who are struggling with food insecurity.
The fund was started by the late Daydie Hochberg on her 70th birthday as a way to give back to her neighbors and community through Rachel’s Table, a Springfield-based organization that has been working for more than 30 years to alleviate food insecurity. Volunteers with Rachel’s Table pick up food from grocery stores and restaurants across the region, and deliver it to local homeless shelters, soup kitchens and other agencies that distribute free meals.
“Thanksgiving crosses all faiths, backgrounds, religions,” said Jodi Falk, executive director of Rachel’s Table. “It’s just time to thank each other, time to be together with families, and we want to support people.”
The goal of the Bruce and Daydie Hochberg Thanksgiving Project is to alleviate the stress many feel when facing the obstacle of providing a Thanksgiving meal for their loved ones.
“If we could buy some turkey and help, then we should do that,” said Merrill Gagne, president of Gagne Wealth Management in Greenfield, who has donated all the turkeys distributed to Rachel’s Table’s partner agencies in Hampshire and Franklin counties for the past two years and is supporting the drive again this year. “We can, in this time where we’re kind of just getting the brunt of everything.”
Donors who make the fund possible include local businesses like Gagne Wealth Management, but also local individuals and families who have the ability to donate.
“Helping locally makes a difference,” Gagne said in a statement. “My whole team is proud to be able to support all our communities, especially around the holidays. Food insecurity continues to be a real problem and it’s the least we can do to help provide for all the families in need.”
The Hochberg family and friends of the late Daydie Hochberg help support the purchase of turkeys in Hampden County. One hundred percent of donations go on the plates of struggling families on Thanksgiving Day.
“Unfortunately, there’s more and more need that we have, more agencies calling us saying, ‘Please, we have more people in the lines, more people asking for help,’” Falk said. “This is a time of year that we want to be sure people can enjoy … because what’s our life without coming together, without family and tradition?”
In 2024, the Bruce and Daydie Hochberg Thanksgiving Project helped more than 1,100 families, with demand increasing to more than 1,500 this year. To fulfill these requests, the fund would need to raise $8,000 more than last year.
“The government shutdown and the Nov. 1 changes to SNAP will directly affect the families we serve, so the need will only grow by the holiday season,” Falk noted. “Let’s make up that gap together.”
Since its start in 2007, the need for turkeys and fixings during the holiday season has tripled amid rising food insecurity. Half of all households in Franklin and Hampshire counties and roughly 2 million adults across the state experienced food insecurity in 2024, according to a statewide report published by The Greater Boston Food Bank and Mass General Brigham earlier this year, with Franklin and Hampshire counties experiencing some of the starkest increases in Massachusetts.
In a time of extreme need, the Bruce and Daydie Hochberg Thanksgiving Project is asking for the public’s financial support to help provide families with Thanksgiving meals, as well as to spread awareness of food insecurity. To donate, visit feedwma.org/give-funds and pick the Bruce and Daydie Hochberg Thanksgiving Project under preferences.
Alternatively, residents who have nonperishable, unexpired foods to donate can bring them to the Rachel’s Table donation box at the Springfield Jewish Community Center or a local food pantry or meal site. A list of local agencies can be found at feedwma.org/who-we-work-with/agencies.