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Date: 7/5/2023
SOUTHWICK — It’s been clear for over a decade that the Our Community Food Pantry needed more space, and when the former Southwick Methodist Church closed its doors last year, the pantry’s Board of Directors considered trying to purchase the property.
“But it was too much of a project for us to take on,” said Sally Munson, who has served as the pantry’s director for 13 years.
That’s when the Southwick Civic Fund stepped into the breach.
Only weeks after the church’s congregation gathered for a final time with an Order of Closing Worship Service, Joe Deedy, the president of the Civic Fund, reach ed an agreement in principle to buy the College Highway property that includes the small home now used by the pantry, and the church and fellowship hall.
He didn’t waste much time announcing that his long-term plan for the property was to move pantry operations into the fellowship hall only two months later. But on closer inspection of the hall, Deedy decided the space wasn’t suitable.
It was time to think outside the box, and Deedy did. Why not build a new facility? he asked himself.
And he set to work with a single-minded determination that anyone who has met Deedy quickly comes to understand about his personality, which is part pit bull with three scoops of teddy bear.
With the blessing of the pantry’s Board of Directors, he reached out to state Sen. Paul Mark (D-Becket) and state Rep. Nicholas Boldyga (R-Southwick) and asked for help, the kind of help that is the color green.
“Go big or go home,” Deedy said bluntly about how he approached the two legislators seeking their help.
And they came through with a state grant of $150,000, which was announced last September.
However, that wasn’t quite enough to put up a new building, especially one that covered 1,800 square feet.
As a former Select Board member and current member of the Finance Committee, and a town native — he played soccer at Southwick High School before blowing out a knee — Deedy knows just about everyone in town, including the types of businesses needed to build a new pantry.
And as word got out, local contractors started getting in touch, including one who visited his ice cream shop almost weekly.
“He said, ‘Joe, we got this,’” Deedy said of one of the contractors.
Within months, these contractors offered their services to build the new facility, which much it donated, he said. They are:
When Deedy formally submitted the site plan for the new facility during a Planning Board meeting in June, he noted that it was a “true Southwick project” with everyone involved being from or living in town. The Planning Board approved the site plan unanimously, giving Deedy the greenlight to start construction.
The new facility will mark a new chapter for the Our Community Food Pantry, Munson said.
“It will be wonderful. It’s a win-win for the community. We’re very blessed,” she said.
There are a couple of reasons she and the pantry’s board are excited.
First, she said, it will keep the pantry in the same location at 220 College Hwy., which is important for the over 100 families the pantry serves each week.
Another is that the pantry’s operations in the new facility will now be on a single floor, she said.
In its current space, a converted single-family home, both the basement and main floor are used daily, which means volunteers must walk up and down the stairs each day carrying supplies that are often heavy.
While Deedy said the pantry could use the former fellowship hall now, Munson said the board has decided to stay where it is until after the holidays in November and December, the pantry’s busiest months of each year.
The main reason the pantry needs the extra space is the “enormous” increase in need over the past two years, Munson said, adding the pantry is seeing at least 10 new families each month who need assistance and nearly all are “working families.”
While inflation has slowed somewhat in recent months, she said that is primary driver for the increased need, especially the elderly on a fixed income.
“There is simply no way they can afford it,” she said, as the price of food skyrocketed.
During the Planning Board meeting, she said that through May of this year, the pantry had already distributed 140,000 pounds of food, which is a 61% increase from the same period last year.
Munson wanted everyone to know the pantry is a nonprofit organization and all donations are tax-deductible.
And she said it always needs assistance, especially during the summer for its Kids’ Program that provides five lunches a week to children in eligible families. She said healthy selections, like fresh fruits and vegetables, are never cheap.
While Deedy has assured the pantry’s board its rent will continue at its current rate, $650 monthly, Munson said the pantry will be responsible for the monthly utility bill, and with a larger space, that cost is expected to more than double.
“We’re holding our breath a little bit, but it’s going to be wonderful,” she said.