CHICOPEE, Mass. - Food insecurity is the condition of not having access to sufficient food and about 2 million Massachusetts adults are faced with the issue. 

The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, headquartered in Chicopee, is busier than ever. Their executive director said right now they're providing the most food to the most people in their 43-year history.

“We're providing the equivalent of more than 1.2 million meals to more than 124,000 individuals every month," Andrew Morehouse said, "and we expect that number potentially to go up.”

A study on food insecurity in Massachusetts released by the Greater Boston Food Bank and Mass General Brigham this week found more than one in three households experienced food insecurity in 2024 and some of the highest food insecurity rates in the state are in the four western Mass. counties Morehouse and his team serve.

“It's no surprise to us that it's high," Morehouse said. "Just the fact that it's higher than other parts of most of the rest of eastern Massachusetts came as a surprise to us.”

The state would require up to 2 billion dollars annually to solve food insecurity, according to the same study. As funding cuts have been made at the federal level earlier this year, Morehouse said the Food Bank continues to brace for additional changes.

“We're bracing for what's imminent," Morehouse said, "and that is cuts to the federal SNAP program, the Supplemental Nutrition Program, which has been around for over half a century.”

While the Food Bank works to provide things like more than 4 million pounds of fresh vegetables every year, Morehouse said they’re grateful for their neighbors.

“There's so many ways we rely on the community across - I should say we rely on the diverse communities across all of western Massachusetts to carry out our mission," Morehouse said. "And we've been able to count on you in the past, and we hope to continue in the future.”

The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts can be contacted through their website at: foodbankwma.org