NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — State Health & Human Services Secretary Kiame Mahaniah wound up a trip to the Berkshires on Tuesday with stops at the Berkshire Food Project, North Adams Regional Hospital and the Brien Center. 

The secretary, escorted by state Rep. John Barrett III, Tricia Farley-Bouvier and Leigh Davis, was in Pittsfield in the morning for roundtable at the Pittsfield Community Food Pantry.

 

Mahaniah said he'd been to a few pantries in the Boston area recently, and spent Monday in the Pioneer Valley and Tuesday in the Berkshires as "food security days."

 

"I'm hearing that people are terrified about the changes that are coming. I'm hearing that even before the changes came, inflation has really caused a spike in people's need, and that here in the Berkshires, in particular, all the things that make life difficult, sort of further negatively affecting people's ability to access food, be it public transportation or transport or jobs or so that. So that the data is also striking," he said. 

 

"And I think it's also what I always when I'm always impressed about when I come to the Berkshires, is just how well the different organizations are able to collaborate. It's just amazing what people in the what organizations and the Berkshires do, what communities do with so little."

 

Some 1.1 million state residents were set to lose Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funds this month as the government shutdown continues through orders from the Trump administration, although SNAP benefits have not been affected by previous shutdowns. A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the use of reserve funds to continue the program but that could mean recipients getting 50 percent to 35 percent, or less, of their regular allotments.

 

(Update: A federal judge late Thursday ordered President Donald Trump to release full SNAP benefits. More information can be found at mass.gov/SNAPupdates and mass.gov/SNAPfreeze)

 

Gov. Maura Healey advanced $4 million in funds for November, to be added to the $4 million provided monthly to Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance program. But that's not enough. 

 

"I think in a way, we're trying to copy what the Berkshires have, meaning that we're really trying to make sure that all the people were involved in food security are much tighter, so that we can make each dollar stretch stretch further," said Mahaniah.

 

"But in terms of replacing federal money, that's $250 million a month, that's sort of unimaginable levels of money. But we are figuring out how to get what we have to function at a higher level, getting more investment in it, but like I mentioned before, really making sure that we're all working together so there's truly no waste, and that we can really make sure that people who are in need do get enough food to survive this period."

 

One-person households can receive up to $298 a month, and for a two-person, $546, minus 30 percent of income. About 22,000 people receive SNAP benefits in Berkshire County, and about 4,000 people in North Adams and 2,000 in Adams.

 

Pantries have recorded higher numbers of people seeking food assistance and the Berkshire Food Project has seen its numbers rise. The emergency meal site is run largely by volunteers in the First Congregational Church kitchen five days a week. 

 

"It's all grants and local contributors, everything except some of the earmark funds, which we're very grateful for," said Executive Director Matthew Alcombright. "But it's all community contributions and support."

 

A lot of that support comes from Food Bank of Western Massachusetts and local grocers Stop & Shop, Walmart and Big Y, and Goodwill. Lunch is homemade with entree and salad and diners have the option to come back and get a takeout meal for supper. Dessert is whatever is donated and any extras, like bread, are put out for diners to take or donated to the food pantry. It also supplies meals for Louison House, the local emergency shelter. 

 

"Collectively, over the past two months, we've seen a 40 percent increase from September to October," said Alcombright. "Our biggest day on record was Oct. 24, we did 284 meals (in person and takeout). ...

 

"We're just trying to stretch what we have. I don't know if we've seen a huge increase on their contributions. We've seen a consistent amount of contributions, which has been great. The community response has been incredible  ... we've just seen so many online contributions, donors, people stopping in to say, 'what can I do?' Or just walking in with cash and saying, 'I don't want to be known, please take this and put it towards your efforts.'" 

 

The food project has a mental health component, in part driven by Alcombright's five years working with the Brien Center in mental health and residential addiction. A resource navigator for primarily substance abuse comes in a few times a week and Alcombright is trying to get other resources from the Brien to build relationships with the clientele. North Adams Regional Hospital is also partnering by having a community nurse once a month to take blood pressures and speak with diners. 

 

"We have a unique advantage of having, I call the physical and the proverbial carrot that you dangle in front of people. They're here. They come for the meal, they wait for their take out. So what a better time to bring the community right to them, to interact with them, to meet with them, to build a relationship where it's safe?" Alcombright said. 

 

"Many people don't feel, you know, are either stigmatized, or just kind of feel like they don't want to walk over to Brien right away, because that's the place. So why don't we bring it to them?" 

 

Alcombright said the project and the church have worked well together for decades, as feeding people is seen as part of the congregation's mission, but it's outgrowing the kitchen.

 

"We've been in this facility in the Congregational Church for 40 years, and we are in need to move for kitchen space, not for dining room. Need a bigger kitchen right now," he said. "We're just trying to have some community conversations to try to get some support from that and just brainstorm. We met with Rep. Barrett on Friday to kind of get some just ideas floating, and we're just trying to figure what that looks like moving forward."

 

Mahaniah spoke with volunteers in the kitchen and shook hands before moving on to the next stop.