It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and for many one of the most stressful times of the year. As people prepare for holiday feasts with family and friends, food pantries across the region are preparing to stretch donations further and support more clients with limited food.

Jessica Vargas, coordinator at the Community Food Pantry at Athol High School, said that the average of 75 families served each week is doubled this time of year. This week, for example, 120 families utilized the pantry’s services. The food pantry gets its food from the Worcester Food Bank, as well as donations from area churches and clubs.

“The increase has happened for sure,” said Vargas.

Though the Athol pantry doesn’t have the facilities to store turkeys, it does stock items such as gravy, stuffing and cranberry sauce.

“We would love to have access to more [food],” said Vargas.

At the Franklin Area Survival Center on Fourth Street in Turners Falls, volunteers have been working to put together 700 Thanksgiving meal bags that will feed over 1,000 people, while trying to support its regular food pantry service with decreasing donations.

Executive director Fern Kolakoski said over the past couple of years she has seen more and more people come to the center for help, either through the thrift store that offers discounted furniture, clothes and household items, or through the food pantry that feeds hundreds of households each month. With inflation and economic struggles more and more people need help with basic necessities, and more and more people do not have the disposable income to donate.

“Over the past year there’s been a huge drop in donations,” Kolakoski said. “People are struggling more, they’re just trying to get by and forget to or can’t donate.”

The survival center receives approximately 300 pounds of food donations a month, when it needs 600 pounds.

“It’s not nearly enough,” Kolakoski said.

Kolakowski said the center does the best it can with what it gets from the Western Mass Food Bank, local stores and bakeries, and donations from individuals, but more food is always needed, especially around the holidays.

The holidays are typically when people are more generous with donations, but it is still a time of great need for many, said Cheo Ramos, manager of the Center For Self Reliance on Main Street in Greenfield.

“As much as a holiday can be great, it van also bring a lot of stress,” Ramos said.

Ramos said the center is the largest food pantry in Greenfield; this past October they served 579 families, with a total of 1283 individuals. The pantry typically sees more visitors around the holidays and its four staff members and 25 volunteers do their best to ration donations. The pantry is a client choice food center that allows people to “shop” for their groceries each week, and asks clients to limit what they take to just what they need to get them through to the next week.

The pantry also works with the food bank, local stores, farms and receives donations from individuals, but is limited by supply chain issues, farming seasons, and the economic and financial challenges faced by donors.

“We get alot but there’s always need for more,” Ramos said.

Ramos said the pantry always accepts donations and is open to volunteers, but prefers monetary donations over food donations.

“We can stretch that dollar so much farther when we buy in bulk rather than getting a donation of food,” Ramos said.

The Turners Falls center’s Thanksgiving meal bags includes nearly everything one might need for a holiday feast: stuffing, green beans, corn, et. cetera, but is lacking one essential piece. In preparation for the holidays what the center really needs is dessert mixes.

“We prefer to give them the brownie, cookie and cake mixes so they can make it themselves and fill their kitchens with that delicious smell,” Kolakowski said. “That’s what makes the meal special.”

She added the center also needs donations of regular items like crackers, jams and jellies, mayonnaise, and fruits, both fresh and canned. The food pantry is open 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, but donations are accepted 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Ramos said that while people are more generous with donations during the holidays, but wants people to remember to donate throughout the year as well.

“The need year round,” he said.

Madison Schofield can be reached at mschofield@recorder.com. Alexa Lewis can be reached at alewis@gazettenet.com.

Athol Daily News Editor Max Bowen contributed to this report.