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Date: 12/18/2023
GRANBY — During its Dec. 4 meeting, the Granby Selectboard was visited by John Hine, acting president of the Granby To-Go Board and the president of the Board of Directors for the Neighbors Helping Neighbors Food Pantry of South Hadley and Granby, who came prepared to discuss food insecurity in the region and how the town can play a role in addressing the issue.
Granby To-Go is a public, nonprofit program for Granby Public Schools that provides food, resources and outreach service referral to individuals and families. The local program to address food insecurity for students was created under the guidance and support from the Neighbors Helping Neighbors Food Pantry.
Hine said over the last few years he and his teams have seen a “significant” increase in those who are food insecure.
“I think you can point to two things that probably aggravated that situation. Certainly, the expiration of the COVID pandemic relief programs, and then inflation, which has hit all of us, but inflation for food products has been pretty significant over this time as well,” Hine said.
According to the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, almost 11,000 people, including 2,000 children, in Hampshire County are considered food insecure, representing about 6.8% of the county’s population, Hine said.
For the town of Granby, the Food Bank indicates that there are 233 individuals classified as food insecure, about 3.7% of the population.
Hine explained that currently, Granby To-Go provides food to over 220 students on a weekly basis in terms of bags and snacks. Neighbors Helping Neighbors over the last year has provided 24,433 pounds of food to Granby residents. This represents 52 households and over 123 individuals being served.
“Clearly, there are a lot of people in need,” Hine said.
Hine was then joined by Barbara Bys, a Granby Junior Senior High School teacher who serves on the Granby To-Go Board, to speak more about the program. Bys has been on the board since the group was first organized about five years ago.
“We’ve watched this program grow and we’ve watched how we are able to help our kids. We have a director, Judy Delong. She is in the schools much of the day, several days a week, available to give kids food whenever they need it,” Bys said.
She explained students stop by and pick up snacks for the afternoon as they leave school and head home. Delong also can provide clothing or an option to wash clothes for students in need of the service through the group, according to Bys.
Bys also said parents come in weekly to pick up food and clothing for their families, something Bys said has really benefited them. Families can call the school’s guidance office and the district is happy to assist in signing students in need up.
She added she hopes those in need in town also consider Neighbors Helping Neighbors as they are a larger operation with more resources to help families.
“Not just kids that need the food because they’re lacking food, but also kids that are on sports teams or kids staying after school for extra help, they need the food in the afternoon to be able to sustain till they get to dinner that night,” Bys said.
Neighbors Helping Neighbors Executive Director Mary Lou Guarnera also joined the presentation and explained through her role the close partnership she has with Granby To-Go. She explained when parents need more than just the food offered, they hopefully come to Neighbors Helping Neighbors for further assistance.
“All they have to do is drive up. When the pandemic came to town we had to develop a new way of serving because we used to have people come into the building but our rooms are very small. So through trial and error we developed a pattern where they stay in their car,” Guarnera explained. “They drive up, we give them a menu because we are client choice. We feel that if we give them a bag of groceries and they get tuna but don’t like tuna, they’re not going to eat it and that wastes our food. It maintains a level of dignity when they can choose what they want.”
Guarnera added clients are often surprised at the amount of food they’re able to get as the organization offers a wide range including fresh dairy products, fresh produce and baked goods.
She also said Neighbors Helping Neighbors does not limit visits from clients and if needed a family can stop by twice in a week if the need is there.
“We have plenty, we go to the Food Bank often and we are supported by the community. We want you to come to get this food and we want you to eat it and be nourished because body without food cannot work, learn or play. It works merely to exist. We don’t want people to simply exist, we want them to have a good quality of life which you can’t do without adequate food,” Guarnera said.
While these programs have been beneficial, there is still more that can be done according to Guarnera.
“The snacks and so on that we can provide at Granby To-Go during the day is like putting one of those teeny band aids on a big surgical wound. It’s fine, it helps the student right now, but some go home and there is nothing there. That doesn’t work and we want to help with that,” Guarnera said. “I know that people are proud, but I think especially when you talk about families with kids, sometimes we need to fight the bullet and put that pride away to take care of our kids because they really need the nutrients.”
Selectboard Chair Glenn Sexton asked what priorities are needed from the two groups that the town could assist in supporting. Hine explained they scheduled the meeting to get the word out in the community that these resources are here for those in need.
Guarnera added funding is appreciated as many food drives can naturally end with a surplus of items that must be thrown out which equals waste. She added that through the $1 membership program at the Food Bank they are able to provide three meals.
“I think that says a lot. So often we go through our days, and we forget about things like that and it’s good to hear it and remind us of it,” Sexton said.
Guarnera said a big interest from these efforts include targeting the group of people in the community who would benefit from a resource like this but for some reason are not utilizing it.
State Rep. Dan Carey (D-Easthampton) joined the meeting but was not heavily involved in discussions as he said he was there to support the work done by the two groups and that he is fighting for their causes in the Statehouse.
“These folks do the hard work, but we just wanted to be here to highlight their good work and to make sure folks know that need is here in our community, unfortunately, and this service is available where I think sometimes we think these problems happen somewhere else, or that the pantry is only for South Hadley,” Carey said. “We wanna make sure that folks are hearing this message, that it’s a real partnership for the South Hadley and Granby communities.”
Carey said he and state Rep. Mindy Domb (D-Amherst), who also attended the meeting, were able to file an earmark to get Neighbors Helping Neighbors $100,000 to support their work, and $40,000 to Granby To-Go in the last few years.
“I don’t come up here to brag about that like, ‘look how great we are.’ It’s the whole state recognizes this as a reputable and a worthwhile program worth investing in and we took that message to Boston and our colleagues heard it and we were able to bring that support back to Western Mass., and that’s what we’re here to do,” Carey said. “We’re going to continue to support neighbors helping neighbors and we hope that Granby will do the same whether its making donations, telling friends or keeping them in your mind.”
Domb credited the two programs for ramping up efforts during COVID-19 and their consistency in trying to assist those in need. She added the No. 1 thing the Selectboard could do in support of this work going forward is being aware of it, incorporate it into talking points with residents and share information so people know about the valuable services.
“The more we share the service, the more we take the stigma from using the service,” Domb said. “Food pantries are able to leverage dollars like you’ve hear in ways that individuals can’t. I’m a big believer in food drives. I love food drives, I participate in food drives, but it does not get the food pantry as much as money does.”
Sexton agreed with the points being made and said the board would be looking to play its role and see what else they could do to help support the nonprofits doing this work in the community.
“You can’t help but sit here when you talk about people struggling and children looking for food, you can’t help but to have a tug on your heart just to hear those things,” Sexton said. “It’s a good thing to be reminded of it.”