NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — State Health & Human Services Secretary Kiame Mahaniah wound up a trip to the Berkshires on Tuesday with stops at the Berkshire Food Project, North Adams Regional Hospital and the Brien Center. 

 

The secretary, escorted by state Rep. John Barrett III, Tricia Farley-Bouvier and Leigh Davis, was in Pittsfield in the morning for roundtable at the Pittsfield Community Food Pantry.

 

Mahaniah said he'd been to a few pantries in the Boston area recently, and spent Monday in the Pioneer Valley and Tuesday in the Berkshires as "food security days."

 

"I'm hearing that people are terrified about the changes that are coming. I'm hearing that even before the changes came, inflation has really caused a spike in people's need, and that here in the Berkshires, in particular, all the things that make life difficult, sort of further negatively affecting people's ability to access food, be it public transportation or transport or jobs or so that. So that the data is also striking," he said. 

 

"And I think it's also what I always when I'm always impressed about when I come to the Berkshires, is just how well the different organizations are able to collaborate. It's just amazing what people in the what organizations and the Berkshires do, what communities do with so little."

 

Some 1.1 million state residents were set to lose Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funds this month as the government shutdown continues through orders from the Trump administration, although SNAP benefits have not been affected by previous shutdowns. A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the use of reserve funds to continue the program but that could mean recipients getting 50 percent to 35 percent, or less, of their regular allotments.

 

Gov. Maura Healey advanced $4 million in funds for November, to be added to the $4 million provided monthly to Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance program. But that's not enough.