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With the help of volunteers, Berkshire Bounty has collected and donated

250,298 pounds

of nutritious food, including: fruits, vegetables, meat, fish and dairy during 2022, and

410,902 pounds
in 2021
272,172 pounds
in 2020
129,685 pounds
in 2019
33,048 pounds
in 2018
8,296 pounds
in 2017

Thank you to all!





During the coronavirus pandemic, the number of people suffering from food insecurity has materially increased due to school closings, job layoffs and compensation reductions. Berkshire Bounty is using donations to purchase nutritious food for delivery to those in need. Please donate what you can. THANK YOU, and STAY SAFE!

Hello Berkshire Bounty Supporters!

Tomatoes, melons, corn and more! Welcome to late summer. It's September, and the crisp mornings have arrived, right on schedule.

Our volunteers have been hard at work collecting and delivering the summer bounty. Year to date, 231,072 lbs of food has been distributed to community members in need. This is the equivalent of 277,286 meals.

To recognize our volunteers and celebrate Berkshire Bounty’s success we are hosting a Volunteer Appreciation Reception on September 14th at 10am at Berkshire South Regional Community Center. Come one, come all! Coffee and pastries will be available.

In partnership with the Jewish Women’s Foundation and the Food Bank of Western Mass, Berkshire Bounty will be participating in Meals of Hope, a county wide packing and distribution of 25,000 soup packets to support the food insecure community. VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED to help create packages on Sunday morning, September 18th, from 9:30am to noon at W.E.B Du Bois Middle School in Great Barrington. Reach out to Jaffeliz@gmail.com to participate.

Berkshire Bounty will conduct a Mobile Food Drive on September 6th to support Peoples Pantry in Great Barrington. Please reach out to info@berkshirebounty.org if you would like to donate canned and/or packaged food; help unload donations at People’s Pantry; or, drive to pick up donations at food donors’ homes. Foods most in demand are: pasta, pasta sauce, cereal (preferably low sugar), cooking oil, rice, or canned chicken or tuna.

Gleaning season is coming! A Berkshire Bounty activity that is very popular with volunteers is the fall fruit gleaning program. A number of local homeowners who have apple, pear and peach trees allow Berkshire Bounty volunteers to pick (also known as "glean") a portion of their annual crop during the September-October season. For an hour or two on crisp Berkshire mornings, the volunteers pick the fruit, mostly apples, which other volunteers then deliver to local food pantries to assist those experiencing food insecurity. It's easy (no ladders or tree climbing), and lots of fun. Our staff are now visiting homeowner properties to assess how much effect the drought and spongy moths have had on the fruit trees, and they look quite moderate. However, it looks like there will not be a bumper crop this year. We expect the first gleaning event will be scheduled in mid-September, so watch your email or check our website for details.

Phew! We’ve got a lot going on this month! None of this would be possible without our generous donors. A big thank you to the Geoffrey C. Hughes Foundation for a recent grant award. Donate today to help support Berkshire Bounty in fighting food insecurity in our community, by clicking on the DONATE button on this page. Thank you!

Volunteers are always needed. If you are interested in volunteering please contact our operations manager Jenny Schwartz, at backbo2016@gmail.com. 

Be well, 

Morgan

morgan@berkshirebounty.org

 

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