Mutual Aid
People’s Pantry
PVWC holds a monthly food distribution where all are welcome to take home a bag of high quality local fresh food.
Please contact leninn@pvworkerscenter.org for more information.
The PVWC People’s Pantry is a mutual aid program that started in the winter of 2017.
The program began when farmworkers from the Springfield worker committee made a request to allocate funds for direct food support for PVWC membership. The People’s Pantry was originally created as a winter program. It was designed to provide support when the majority of the farmworker members experience high levels of food insecurity as the availability of work tapers off with the end of the growing season. The mission held a key mutual aid value: in order to organize and struggle against violence, communities must have their essential needs met.
When Covid-19 hit, the People’s Pantry responded. As immigrant workers were laid off overnight with no sense of when their next paycheck would come, the need for food and other forms of support drastically increased. By building on existing networks and forging new relationships with community members, we dramatically scaled up the program. Between 2020 and 2024, we served over 25,000 people between Turners Falls, Northampton, Holyoke and Springfield.
Get involved!
If you’re interested in getting involved as a volunteer or wish to donate food or any other materials, please don’t hesitate to reach out!