The Strength of Community in Times of Transition

For the past 3 years, my role has allowed me the privilege of getting to witness and experience abundance, and try my best to direct its path. I get to see and ensure that your contribution to your community has a real impact. While it’s clear to me what your support does for your neighbors, I hope that you can see how big of an impact your contribution makes.

In 2022, thanks to increased support from you, we

• Distributed 27,217 meals across our 4 community meal sites
  • At the Greenfield Community Meal, we served 25% more people than the prior year
• Increased our impact via the Orange Food Pantry
  • Distributed 270,000+ pounds of food at the Orange Food Pantry- 63% of which was fresh produce, meat, dairy and other fresh food items
  • Served 2700+ individuals in 1000+ households, a 50% increase from 2021
  • Distributed a week’s worth of food (non-perishables, fresh produce, meat, dairy, bread, etc) to people in need over 17,303 times. This was 8,000 more service visits than in 2021. 
  • Delivered to 40+ households, weekly
• Distributed 30,499 pounds of food to over 2,242 individuals via the Turners Falls Mobile Food Bank
• Saved $200,000 in expenses thanks to donations of food and volunteer hours from the community 
  • Community members donated 60,972 pounds of food, valued at $103,652.  
  • Volunteers donated over 6,700 hours, a value of over $100,000.

You, and every ingredient that goes into our work, are part of a whole recipe. Each ingredient enables us to operate our profoundly important programs. Each ingredient makes sure your neighbors are well fed and taken care of.  

2023 is a time of transition for FCCMP. This will be my final quarterly letter as we hire and onboard a new executive director in the coming months. But that is not the only transition at play here. The state of the world is in transition. As we come through this pandemic and ride the continued economic challenges our country and world face, supply chain issues, increased food insecurity, loss of pandemic era benefits, and more, how we respond as a community is still as important as it was that first pandemic year. 

In transition, we can feel ungrounded, challenged, stressed. But transition provides an opportunity to move with intention, to set goals, to seek out abundance and to participate in the creative process of change. We are in an era of building, of recreating systems and communities that better serve everyone. That is what building food security is all about. We want to live in a community, where all of our neighbors have access to healthy, fresh food regardless of the state of their lives or the state of the world. To do this, we have to all work together to transform and create what is needed. 

Since I stepped into my role in 2020, I have seen the FCCMP community transform. The organization has grown and evolved in its ability to respond to the rising need. Many more people have joined us- as volunteers, as donors, as community members. Long time champions increased their support, more partnerships were formed, food drives were created, student initiatives were run, and more. Our staff have grown, learned and worked together. Our board of directors has stewarded our growth with passion and a commitment to values. Our partners have championed us and rallied to help the community. 

 FCCMP can not do what we do alone. We never have and never will. This is a community organization, of and for the people. Only in partnership can we transform our community and build a neighborhood of people caring for each other. We are not one, but many. Our neighbors are struggling and so we lift them up. Our community needs support so we build, we provide, we open our arms, our wallets, our pantry shelves. 

Thank you for being a part of this community, an essential ingredient in this recipe. 

This year, we are looking forward to continuing to build community with you under new leadership. We look forward to doing our annual bagged lunch collection, now called the Bonus Bag Brigade, and we can’t wait to host our annual auction at Hawks & Reed again this September. Most importantly, we look forward to continuing to feed and nourish our neighbors with you! As always, stay tuned for events, ways to get involved, and more! 

In community,

Rachel Berggren, Executive Director