We have two ways to give a hand up this year.
First, the Deerfield Inn and Champney’s will be collecting non-perishable food items to go beneath the tree, starting on December 1st. Every time you come by to enjoy a plateful of something delicious here, please bring something that can go towards a plateful of food for someone else in Franklin County.f
There is a second way to help. Pop a dollar or whatever you can spare in the envelope in the check holder, and this will go to the Franklin County Community Meals program. 1 in 5 children in Western Mass is “food insecure” meaning they miss meals or do not have enough to eat. That is something I know we all want to do something about.
We are surrounded in this most rural part of western Massachusetts with fields and rivers, producers and growers, foragers and farmers. We have orchards, acres of bounty, and yet there was the need to provide nourishing meals to more than 20,000 last year. 247,000 pounds of food was distributed at food pantries. Twelve percent of our residents are on the poverty line; people both young and old.
Share the bounty with the county, and help us spread the joy of a good meal! Thank you!