CHICOPEE, MA (WGGB/WSHM) - As our coverage on the SNAP benefits lapse continues, we are getting an understanding of how things have been going lately at the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts.

Busy may be an understatement, they have actually been seeing an increase in demand in their services.

As a reminder, the SNAP benefit crisis with many in Massachusetts and around the country are going through right now, the food bank had been preparing for this moment for a while. they have also seen an influx of calls when it comes to people looking for spots to get food. Despite this stressful situation, the food bank says they are working as hard as they can and have been heartened by the amount of support they have received, especially since the start of the month.

Western Mass News spoke with Jillian Morgan, the food bank’s Director of Development. She told us compared to the last two weeks, there has been a little bit of a decline in calls coming in during the last few days, as Massachusetts SNAP benefits are expected to be funded at the end of week.

That said, she and the food bank still expect a lot more of the same with the cold weather and holidays approaching fast, “we know that people are feeling really uncertain about the whole climate and about their SNAP benefits, and we also know that high costs just persist as a real issue and challenge for people. So, we expect that our services are still going to be very in demand over the coming months.”

Morgan told us the food bank has purchased an additional $300,000 worth of food, as they are doing their best to make sure they are fully stocked and help as many people as they can.

We covered a couple of weeks ago, there is a food drive happening in collaboration with the City of Springfield. to find out where you can drop off non-perishables as well as make monetary donations during this time, you can go to their website.

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