WESTFIELD — The Westfield Food Pantry food truck relaunched its services for a fifth season on April 24. The organization is now set to serve meals weekly on Mondays and Thursdays from 12:15-12:45 p.m. outside the First Congregational Church of Westfield throughout the summer.
Westfield Food Pantry Executive Director Rebecca Hart told Reminder Publishing she and her sister and pantry Program Director Melissa Cahalan have learned a lot from the food truck experience but most importantly it has allowed them to make further connections with community partners.
“It’s always about the clients and the people. It’s nice, after five years we’ve really established relationships with people. We get to know the people,” said Hart. “We don’t only offer food, we’re also able to offer wrap around services. We have the Bay State Health Truck that comes that does blood pressure screenings, provides free socks and health insurance referral information, application information, so it’s great. We have a lot of collaboration after the five years.”
Served first on the menu this year was chicken and homemade waffles with a side of fresh fruit and veggies. The truck is located on the Academy Street side of the church and services are free for any Westfield community member in need.
The food truck sometimes can be used at other events and when selling their meals all proceeds go toward the work of the food pantry. Hart added they are mainly focused on free meal services now though due to inflation factors.
“We have gotten away from selling food because the profit margin is so small with the inflation of grocery prices and gas, so we primarily do free food at this point,” Hart added.
Looking ahead to the 2025 food truck season, Hart added they will continue providing some meals through a partnership with Tucker’s restaurant in Southwick.
“I saw a funding opportunity for an economic development grant working with a local restaurant that has been affected by covid, or the economic factors like inflation, so we were able to secure a $35,000 grant and what it does is Tucker’s restaurant is paid to provide food and then we serve it all for free,” Hart explained. “We did it through the winter and the spring inside the church, and we’ll have three meals coming up through May and that will wrap up that grant.”
Updates for the food truck schedule and all things Westfield Food Pantry are available on its Facebook page.
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