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Date: 8/29/2023
CHICOPEE — The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts has officially moved out of its Hatfield location to a new state-of-the-art facility in Chicopee.
The need for a new facility has been ongoing, as the food bank outgrew the Hatfield space years ago.
The warehouse was not equipped to handle the volume of food moving through the facility each year and on the office side, did not have enough workspaces for everyone, or adequate parking for staff, visitors and volunteers.
Executive Director Andrew Morehouse shared that the Food Bank purchased property in Chicopee in 2020 and launched a capital campaign in 2023 which Morehouse said was “successful.”
Construction began in April 2022 and is almost complete. Morehouse said they were scheduled to move into the distribution center and headquarters during the week of Aug. 28 and will begin operations on Sept. 5.
He noted that the construction was completed on schedule and under budget.
The new location at 25 Carew St. has an additional 32,500 square feet overall and is twice the size of the Hatfield facility. The warehouse will have 18,000 additional square feet, with larger sections for dry, refrigerated and frozen products.
Morehouse said, “This will enable us to provide more healthy foods, more equity for decades to come and not have to deal with this issue again.”
The warehouse has nine loading docks, compared to the two that were in Hatfield.
The parking lot will have space for more than 100 vehicles, including electric charging stations.
Additional perks include heat pumps and solar panels on the roof that will generate much, if not all, the electricity needed.
Morehouse said that everything inside the building is new as well — they are just bringing food and staff from Hatfield.
“We are excited to move in,” Morehouse said. “[We are] happy to be in Hampden County.”
Morehouse went on to say that the Chicopee location is next to the largest population facing food insecurity. He said that they are fortunate to be in a place to provide food to that particular area which includes Chicopee, Springfield and Holyoke, to name a few. Morehouse added that they are also at the crossroads of the region’s biggest interstates — providing food to people in all four counties of Western Massachusetts.
It was recently announced that the Hatfield property was sold to Myers Produce.
“[We are] keeping [the] building as part of [the] local food economy,” said Morehouse. “This building will support local farmers and [we have] arranged a partnership with Myers to use the building as a depot site.” He explained that the existing facility will have food delivered to it so people do not have to travel all the way to Chicopee.
“We are excited to deepen partnership with all kinds of stakeholders in Hampden County, while sustaining and deepening partnerships with all community partners across all four counties … [All to] expand our efforts to end hunger over time,” Morehouse said.
The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts has been partnering with the community to receive, store and distribute nutritious food and address the underlying causes of hunger in Western Massachusetts for over 40 years.
For additional information on the food bank, visit foodbankwma.org.