Easthampton Community Center, Inc.

Hello. My name is Scott and I am a lifetime resident of Easthampton. I donated to, utilized the services of, and volunteered at ECC. Now I am here to ask for your help in collecting funds to go to the Easthampton Community Center & Food Pantry. This is not your typical request as in, I am not looking for food or clothing donations. I am seeking monetary donations for the center to use as unrestricted funds.

We have a wonderful community that provides help through food and clothing drives but in order for an organization like this to do the work daily, they need a place to work out of. They need equipment to keep food cold/frozen. They need to rent pods for volunteers to work out of. They need a van to do daily food pickups...

Having worked in the nonprofit world since 2001, I can tell you monetary donations are often tied to the specific mission of the organization, in this case... FOOD. Funds earmarked in that way don't allow for the use in the day-to-day operations.

In the past month or so there was an unexpected plumbing need that caused the pipeline to the street to be dug up and replaced. Expenses like that need to come from somewhere. Simple things like electricity, heating, vehicle repairs, trash removal, and general maintenance for the building and parking lot need to happen monthly too. My goal is to help cover those recent repairs and have a little extra for future needs. Something most of you might not understand is that the city does not provide assistance to the pantry. These costs all fall on ECC.

The building that houses the community center and food pantry dates back to 1879. ECC started there in 1972. Since COVID the pantry needs have dramatically increased so that they are now serving 66 cities and towns within Massachusetts. This is 4,700 families (10,000-11,000) people a month!

It is the mission of the Easthampton Community Center, Inc. to provide services and assistance to residents of the greater Easthampton area. The Center provides a Food Pantry, and a Clothing Closet. The building is open seven days a week. They also have other programs such as the Kid’s Bag Pantry Program is held each week during the summer months and once monthly at the end of each month during the school year. They also provide Senior Food Bags once a month along with a mobile distribution once a month.

Another little known fact: ECC is one of the few certified Gluten-Free food pantries.

Last year alone, ECC distributed 2.5 million pounds of food (prior to COVID they did approximately 1 million pounds a year). Your donation will help defray the burden of monthly operational costs.

To find out more about ECC visit their site: https://easthamptoncommunitycenter.org/

For daily updates visit their FaceBook page: https://www.facebook.com/EasthamptonCommunityCenter/

To donate via ECC directly (please note "unrestricted" to tie it to this fundraiser:

https://easthamptoncommunitycenter.org/donate/

Thank you in advance for your help. Whether it is a donation or sharing this fundraiser so others may help. Thank you!