ATHOL — The Food Pantry at Athol High School opened its doors on Dec. 18 to talk about the services it provides to the local community.

State Sen. Jo Comerford and state Rep. Susannah Whipps were on hand to voice their continued support for the food pantry and the Family & Community Center, which provides a variety of services to families and individuals in the region. U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern had planned to attend but was held up in Washington due to the fight to pass a short-term budget deal.

In 2023, the food pantry served a total of 6,602 people and 2,698 households, according to statistics provided by center director Shirley Mitchell. This year, between Jan. 1 and the end of November, 6,767 people and 2,691 households availed themselves of the services provided at the high school.

The Farm School, Dean’s Beans, the Quabbin Harvest Food Co-op, and the North Quabbin Food-a-Thon are among the local entities that support of the food pantry.

In an interview Friday, McGovern said he is concerned that, with Republicans in control of both the White House and Congress, cuts could be made to SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and similar food assistance programs. Last August, the House Agriculture Committee proposed a farm bill that would have cut $30 billion in benefits for SNAP recipients in future years, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates. A loss of these types of benefits, said McGovern, could increase pressure on facilities like the Food Pantry at Athol High School as people look for more ways to feed their families.

“As you know,” said McGovern, “our food banks and our food pantries are already stretched to the limit. The demand is already at an all-time high. They’re having trouble meeting the demands that currently exist, so if you were to cut a program like SNAP or cut back on programs like WIC (the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program), the food banks and food pantries can’t make up the difference, so people will go hungry, to put it very bluntly.”

McGovern said Republicans “have put a target on SNAP and on WIC. Last year, they fought to cut WIC and we fought back and were able to prevent the cuts. But they’ll come at it again. We know in the Republican-drafted farm bill, which didn’t go anywhere this year, they had a $30 billion cut in SNAP, and I think there are some Republicans who want even deeper cuts. Trump wants deeper cuts.

“If you cut these programs,” McGovern continued, “you’re going to increase hunger in our country and certainly in our communities. People rely on these programs. It is a modest benefit. On average it’s a little over $2 per person per meal; that’s not a lot.”

The Worcester Democrat also pointed out that the majority of people receiving SNAP benefits who are able to work do in fact work.

“These are working people. And a lot of people who benefit from SNAP are children and senior citizens and our veterans. This is about food, and we ought to start viewing food as a fundamental human right for every person in this country.”

McGovern admitted it’s too early to tell what Congress may attempt to do relative to other nutrition programs, such as free school breakfast and lunch programs. “But it seems to me that increasing food insecurity is a lousy thing to do to people, to make people lives more miserable, I mean, Elon Musk and Donald Trump have probably never walked into a grocery store, so they have no idea what families are going through when they’re trying to figure out their food budget for the week.”

For their part, Comerford and Whipps both expressed confidence in the ability of communities to pull together and support facilities like the AHS Food Pantry, should cuts occur in some federal programs.  They also spoke with Mitchell about the services provided by the Family & Community Center, which included help with applying for fuel assistance and reaching out to other agencies in the area for a variety of services.

The AHS Food Pantry is open each Wednesday from 3 to 5 p.m. For more information, contact Shirley Mitchell at 978-249-2435 or smitchell@arrsd.org.