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Date: 4/19/2021
EASTHAMPTON – The Easthampton Community Center (ECC) on 12 Clark St. has distributed 1 million pounds of food to help residents in need since COVID-19’s inception.
According to Robin Bialecki, the executive director of the ECC, the center is currently serving around 2,100 families.
“There are some weeks when we’ll do 30,000 pounds in a week,” she said, with regard to how many pounds of food the center may serve on a weekly basis. “It depends on the numbers coming in.”
Since becoming executive director, Bialecki told Reminder Publishing that prior to COVID-19, the most food distributed in a year weighed in at 720,000 pounds. She added that they reached that milestone two years ago.
“This has been a big jump since COVID hit,” said Bialecki.
According to Bialecki, COVID-19 has led to a 50 percent increase in the amount of people served by the ECC within the greater Easthampton area. “We’ve just been sourcing food from wherever we can to make sure we have enough to fill a need,” said Bialecki.
The ECC receives the majority of their food from the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, but they also acquire food that is donated from Big Y, Stop & Shop, Bruegger’s Bagels and Pepperidge Farms. Many churches in the area collect food for the center as well, but Bialecki said that the amount of food they have received from local churches has decreased due to COVID-19.
“Food drives have been an issue, too, because we’re not doing the food drives we’d normally do,” said Bialecki. Despite some limitations however, the center still has 210 volunteers that help out, and new ones have continued to come in. “It’s very gratifying that the volunteers have kept coming,” she added.
Bialecki said, despite the circumstances, residents have still managed to send donations to help the center acquire the food they need in a year where they have never had to turn anyone away because of a lack of food.
The ECC normally distributes food each week on Monday and Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 4 to 7 p.m., however, they will make emergency distributions if need be. Residents can directly contact Bialecki if they need an emergency distribution.
he Kid’s Bag Pantry Program regularly takes place each week during the summer months and once monthly at the end of each month during the school year. Each child up to the age of 18 can receive a food bag. According to Bialecki, the ECC provides breakfast, lunch and a snack per week. The center kicked the program into gear in March of 2020, and has not stopped providing for children since. The children involved in the program come in once a week to receive their bag of food.
“We honestly didn’t think at first that COVID was going to last that long,” said Bialecki. “It’s just been amazing the amount of people and the businesses that have stepped up to help us.”
The ECC is open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The center also distributes Senior Brown Bags on the first Tuesday of each month from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m, and functions as a Community Care Kitchen, as well. For more information on any of the center’s programs, visit the ECC website at https://easthamptoncommunitycenter.org.