SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts – The Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts and its Rachel’s Table program recently gave a $5,000 donation in food cards to Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts (JFS) to support the organization’s New American Refugee Settlement Program. This was the second such donation to JFS in the past six months for a total of $11,000.

The gift cards have benefitted more than 100 families who were or are still awaiting full refugee status and support. They were purchased from the Healthy Community Emergency Food Fund, which was originally created to meet the immediate needs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequently expanded to help fill food gaps for local organizations in the Pioneer Valley. This was part of the Healthy Community Emergency Fund initiative begun by the JFWM at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

“Giving food to those in need is at the root of everything that Rachel’s Table does,” said Jodi Falk, director of Rachel’s Table. “These two donations of gift cards from our Emergency Food Fund came at a time when many groups fleeing their countries of origin, such as the Afghanis and Ukrainians, did not yet have refugee status and were not yet getting other services which would provide help for food.”

In Western Massachusetts, JFS, in partnership with the State Department and local organizations, resettles refugees fleeing their homelands. They secure housing, furniture, and household items for new families, and provides comprehensive support to navigate their new community. Rachel’s Table and the Jewish Federation of Western Mass began supporting JFS’s New American Refugee Settlement Program in December 2021 by providing $6,000 in food cards for displaced Afghan citizens. With an influx of Ukrainian, Congolese and Haitian refugees, Rachel’s Table and the Federation have expanded their support to provide an additional $5,000 in gift cards to meet the need for food purchasing.

Rachel’s Table raised $95,000 for emergency food purchase throughout the pandemic. These funds were used to fill the meat, milk and produce gap for local community agencies that were unable to receive these products due to supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic. In total, Rachel’s Table was able to purchase 5,000 pounds of fresh ground beef, chicken, potatoes, and onions as well as 3,000 gallons of fluid milk for community agencies in Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin Counties. Additionally, the program expanded its support of local agencies providing Thanksgiving meals, meeting the growing need seen by food agencies over past Thanksgiving celebrations during the pandemic.

To learn more about how Rachel’s Table meets the food gap in the Pioneer Valley, visit www.rachelstablepv.org.

MAIN PHOTO: Tatyana Abashina of JFS of Western Mass. (left) and Jodi Falk, director of Rachel’s Table (center), give a gift card and other goodies to a refugee family: (l to r) Davyd Gorbatyi, Illia Gorbatyi, Yana Gorbata, Evelina Gorbata, Yegor Gorbatyi, and Arina Gorbata.