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Date: 12/1/2021
EASTHAMPTON – On Nov. 23, state Sen. John Velis visited the Easthampton Community Center (ECC) and with Executive Director Robin Bialecki celebrated a state appropriation of $25,000 in support of its programming for fiscal year 2022.
Bialecki said the money would be earmarked for the ECC’s children’s pantry, which serves more than 1,200 area youth.
“If you do this job the right way, I firmly believe you can make an absolute real-world difference on people’s lives, as evidenced at what we were collectively able to do here,” Velis said. “It’s critical with all of the things going on right now – it’s the holiday season, there’s inflation, there’s supply disruptions. Food insecurity is, if not the top issue, one of the top issues facing this commonwealth. This is a basic necessity and there are so many issues right now that exacerbate it, including the pandemic. This, to me, is good policy.”
The children’s pantry first launched in 2008 as supplementary support in the form of breakfast, lunch and snacks during the summer months and vacation weeks when students were not receiving food through public school meal programs.
“Then when the pandemic hit, we haven’t stopped; it’s been every week to make sure they’re getting enough after school and on weekends and, especially with the holidays coming, to make sure they have enough healthy food,” Bialecki said.
Staples of the children’s pantry include macaroni and cheese, soup, cereal, healthy snacks such as granola bars and popcorn, juice boxes, fruit cups and fresh fruit when available.
“When I go shopping, people say, ‘Do you have a large family?’ and I say, ‘Yes, I do,’” Bialecki joked, saying she will walk out of a store with 200 boxes of macaroni and cheese. She added, “It doesn’t help to give the child something they’re not going to eat … We try to do as much as we can to offer good, healthy snacks.”
For children under 1 year old, the children’s pantry provides formula as well as other necessities including diapers. The Easthampton Community Center also has a gluten-free pantry and have what Bialecki called the “top 14 allergy-free foods,” ranging from pizza and macaroni and cheese to cake and brownie mixes.
Those registered for the program can pick up prepackaged bags on Mondays and Wednesdays and volunteers also deliver food to the schools for situations when children miss breakfast, for example.
Velis was joined by state Rep. Dan Carey for the presentation. The two noted Carey had secured similar funding last year, calling the continued support by local legislators an illustration of teamwork and collaboration.
“I, for one, am blessed I get to work with people like Rep. Carey – people who understand how important collaboration is,” Velis said. “I firmly believe that those two ‘C’ words – collaboration and compromise – are the most important words in politics and anytime we can get together and work on a cause like this that is going to have a real impact on people’s lives is important. This isn’t made up, abstract stuff. There are families that are going to eat again because of this collaboration. I’d take it a step further and say if someone wasn’t interested in this kind of collaboration and compromise, I would question why they had gone into this field.”
Currently, the Easthampton Community Center is servicing approximately 800 households through its various initiatives.
“So many families rely on it and that’s even before the pandemic,” Carey said. “Hundreds of families come here for all kinds of support – not just food, but clothes and toys around the holidays – and we’ve really seen an uptick because of the pandemic with numbers tripling and even quadrupling, so anything we can do to support them is really, really important because they are able to stretch these dollars a long way and impact people in a positive way.”
Carey added he advocated for and secured an additional $100,000 in funding for the Easthampton Community Center during the House’s recent American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) spending debate.
“The Senate passed a little bit different version of that bill, so it’s in a conference committee right now, but I am confident and hopeful that it will come out in the final bill and we’ll be able to continue to support them,” he said.
Those in need of the Easthampton Community Center’s services can learn more about their programs and offerings online at https://easthamptoncommunitycenter.org/ and through its Facebook page. Bialecki added they get referrals primarily through word of mouth, though many also access the pantry with direction from the schools, local doctors’ offices and local therapists.
Bialecki added that in addition to state funding, the center’s programming is reliant on community support. “I always tell people it doesn’t have to be a lot. A can of Chef Boyardee, a box of mac and cheese, something small makes a real difference for a small child,” she said.
She noted while the holidays are a time when donations peak, January and February are lean months and times when in addition to food, the center tries to provide warm pajamas, hats and gloves for children. The funding the program received from the efforts of legislators like Velis and Carey is a critical bridge.
“For us, this is a great carryover to get us through those winter months, it really is,” she said.