40,000 lbs. of food delivered to the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts

HATFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - 400,000 pounds of food left Rhode Island Tuesday morning, inside a convoy of 10 tractor trailers.  The trucks will drop off donations at food banks all across the six New England states and New York; making it the largest single food donation of its kind. 

One of the stops was the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts ; the Hatfield warehouse received 40,000lbs of food on Tuesday.

Ocean State Job Lot District Manager Pat Nevue says that the Rhode Island-based company, which currently operates 107 stores in New England and New York, started the “ 3 Square Meals” program a decade ago.

“We started [collecting money] in the fall after Thanksgiving from the customers that frequented our stores. Ocean State Job Lot matched the first $100,000 raised and this year we achieved a new goal of $1.25 million,” said Nevue in Hatfield. 

Director of Development for The Food Bank says the donation will help feed the 135,000 people with food insecurities in western Massachusetts.

The Worcester County Food Bank and the Boston Medical Center Food Pantry were among the three Massachusetts recipients.