GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Berkshire Bounty announce the hiring of Morgan Ovitsky as their first Executive Director. 

 

Ovitsky comes to Berkshire Bounty from Be Well Berkshires, a Mass in Motion funded initiative that supports equitable access to healthy food and opportunities for physical activity. 

 

As the Project Coordinator, she facilitated the Berkshire County Food Access Collaborative, a multi-sector collaborative platform to examine the regionally specific assets and challenges as it relates to local food access. 

 

Ovitsky steps into leadership of the Berkshires nonprofit with a deep knowledge of the food and nutrition-related challenges facing families in the Berkshires, and her wide-ranging relationship capital in the food security world of the Berkshires will offer Ovitsky an established platform from which to jump into Berkshire Bounty's well-established role as a food rescue organization dedicated to fighting food insecurity in Berkshire County.

 

Ovitsky is a member of many committees including the steering committee for the Downtown Pittsfield Farmers Market, the Healthy Pittsfield Partnership and the Age Friendly Task Force.

 

"I believe that access to nutritious food is a human right. Through my previous involvement in the Berkshire County food system, I have a strong understanding of the barriers and challenges of our community in accessing healthy food," she said. "I am inspired by the work accomplished by Berkshire Bounty in addressing food insecurity while supporting the local food economy and I am looking forward to leading the organization in continued growth of these efforts."

 

The all-volunteer nonprofit was founded in 2016 by Mark Lefenfeld and Jay Weintraub with a simple idea – to enlist volunteers to pick fruit from peoples' backyard trees, for delivery to those facing food insecurity. Berkshire Bounty has grown  over the last five years, collecting and delivering an increasing amount of food every year: 8,000 pounds in 2017, 33,000 pounds in 2018, 130,000 pounds in 2019, and 272,000 pounds in 2020, and over 400,000 pounds in 2021. 

 

Berkshire Bounty provides food to those in need by collecting donated food and buying purchased food and delivering that food to organizations such as food pantries and senior centers. The organization's guiding principle is the belief that everyone in Berkshire County should have access to sufficient nutritious food.

 

Berkshire Bounty recently established a formal Board of Directors, an important step in ensuring that Berkshire Bounty will be sustainable well into the future. One of the first decisions by the Board of Directors was to hire an Executive Director. Along with the Board of Directors, the new Executive Director will significantly enhance Berkshire Bounty's ability to achieve our strategic goals.