Amherst Survival Center Executive Director Lev Ben-Ezra called Zito and Suzanne to share how the Center works with the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts to address food insecurity in the area.
"At the Amherst Survival Center, our largest programs, especially during COVID, are our food and nutrition programs or community meals program, providing prepared lunches, our food pantry and providing groceries."
"For both our community meals and our food pantry, the majority of the food that we are able to then distribute into the community comes directly from the Food Bank."
"We absolutely could not do what we do every day without our partnership with the Food Bank."
"Throughout COVID-19, we've really focused in on our food and nutrition programs," Ben-Ezra explains. "Both reached dramatically more people."
"Folks just need more food."
"We are, at this point, distributing roughly three times as many meals every day and every week as we did prior to COVID."
Over the last year, the Amherst Survival Center distributed over a million more meals-worth of food than prior to COVID.
"There is no question about it," Ben-Ezra states. "We would not have been able to scale up our operations in the ways that we have without that additional food resource from the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts."
The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts needs your help.
Join Lev Ben-Ezra in the effort to alleviate hunger in Western Mass. Support the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts today.
Photo: Food Bank of Western Massachusetts