GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. - Berkshire Bounty is crowdfunding to help support food pantries while the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts temporarily closes this month.

“This is where the short-term storage lives. we store here for no more than a couple of days," Berkshire Bounty co-founder Mark Lefenfeld said while walking through their storage. "We refrigerate it down to 39 degrees, which is the appropriate temperature to keep the food healthy and prevent it from rotting away.”

Berkshire Bounty is a food rescue organization which typically serves as a transportation link between food sources and people who are in need. Lefenfeld said the organization began in 2016 and is starting to outgrow their storage shed in Great Barrington.

“The first year we had 8,000 pounds and we thought we were the cat's meow," he said. "We are now going at the rate of 400,000 pounds per calendar year. We have collected and delivered approximately a million and a half pounds to those in need. We're in deep conversation with Food Bank of Western Mass. to expand our presence in central County and north County.”

The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, located in Hatfield, is among the many organizations Berkshire Bounty partners with. Director of programs Christina Maxwell said the growing distribution center sends out about 14 million pounds of food a year and soon they’ll be moving their operations to a larger space in Chicopee.

“We will be closed down for one week to move," Maxwell said. "As you can imagine, it's a lot of effort to move a whole warehouse full of food down the road. We’ll be closed for a week and our agencies are making plans to work their way around that.”

One of those agencies is Berkshire Bounty. Their goal is to raise $10,000 to support several distributors in Berkshire County who usually get deliveries from Hatfield.

“A lot of folks who get food from the Food Bank or Western Mass., pantries who get food from the food bank of Western Mass. on a regular basis, won't have the benefit of those deliveries," Lefenfeld said. "We are jumping in. We are buying a bunch of food to plug that gap and make sure those pantries stay well-supplied with fresh produce.”

“We're grateful to Berkshire Bounty for their partnership," Maxwell said, "and for being willing to step up and help the agencies in that area get through that short period of time that we're going to be out of commission.”

Berkshire Bounty’s fundraising campaign will run from Aug. 16-22. Berkshire Money Management is pledging a $5,000 dollar-to-dollar match for donations.

The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts will be closed from Aug. 28 to Sept. 5 while they move to their new space in Chicopee, reopening after Labor Day weekend.