Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 3/30/2022
AMHERST – The Amherst Survival Center will host its 14th annual “Empty Bowls” event on April 2 to provide a unique way for all Amherst residents to help fight hunger in the surrounding area and to benefit the center.
Participants will select a locally made and handcrafted bowl to fill with one of nine soups, including meat, vegetarian, and vegan options. Tickets are $40 and are available at the door, online at www.amherstsurvival.org or via phone number 549-3968, ext. 108.
“With such high prices at the grocery store and gas pump, and the end of COVID[-19] benefits such as the Child Tax Credit, we are seeing another surge in people coming to the center for the first time,” said Lev Ben-Ezra, executive director of the Amherst Survival Center in a press release. “Just this week, we met a senior who came for the first time. As she shopped through the pantry, and learned about the meals available outside, she repeated over and over, ‘This is going to change my life.’”
Additionally, the center will raffle five Josh Simpson bowls or platters and sell aprons at the event. Any added donations will be matched by the event’s presenting sponsor, Greenfield Savings Bank.
“One of the pieces that’s always so special about Empty Bowls for us is how aligned it is with the work that we do and it’s really a chance to engage our community of donors in something that mirrors our work every day which is harnessing the incredible abundance in this community to make sure everybody has what they need,” Ben-Ezra said.
While the Survival Center provides meals year-round, Ben-Ezra said that it was dedicated to much more than that prior to COVID-19. The center made sure everyone had access to free groceries, clothing, a walk-in medical clinic, resource center, sewing and mending classes and more in addition to free meals.
“All of this is provided by a small staff team,” Ben-Ezra said. “Throughout COVID[-19], we narrowed and deepened our focus on our food and nutrition programs because there was such need for food in our community. Over the last two years we’ve roughly doubled the amount of food being distributed in our food pantry.”
The center also managed a curbside pickup option and delivering groceries directly to about 1,000 people per month. They increased daily hot meals served from 80 to 100 pre-pandemic to around 300 now and are including additional food that people can take for later. Ben-Ezra said continuing to provide support for those experiencing homelessness has been a focus for the center throughout COVID[-19].
They continued offering access to laundry, showers, lockers and mail service.
“As we look forward, we are really excited to be able to bring back some of the programs that needed to be temporarily closed,” Ben-Ezra said. “We can’t wait to be able to have folks back inside and breaking bread together. We’re managing those transitions along with the incredible expansions that we’ve seen in our food pantry and meals and thinking strategically about how to balance all of those needs with the space that we have.”