Every day people load up on food at the Western Massachusetts Food Bank in Hatfield. But they do not do it for themselves. The food is used to stock pantries throughout the Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin and Berkshire Counties for families in need. It is not easy keeping the groceries on the shelves.

Food Bank Executive Director Andrew Morehouse said, "We're seeing more and more people loose their jobs and are unable to earn enough income to meet their basic needs including food. In fact we've seen an increase of about 24 percent in the demand for food."

The food bank serves 400 different food distribution centers from all four counties. Representatives from at least 40 of those centers walk through the doors of the food pantry every day for supplies. So making sure the shelves stay stocked full of food is essential.

Donations are making that task a bit easier. The Realtor Association of the Pioneer Valley is one of many businesses that donates to the food bank. This year they donated $3,000.

"The $3,000 that we receive we'll be able to leverage an able to get $27,000 worth of food to store here at the food bank to then distribute to families and individuals who are having a rough time getting food on their table," Morehouse said.

Every year the food bank provides 6.9 million meals to western mass families in need. They even have a brown bag program for the elderly. They get one bag of groceries every month.

"It's always important for us to give back. Many of us have jobs and there are a lot of people out there this year without jobs. When we're working and able to give it's absolutely great to give. There is so much need," Realtor Milly Parzychowski said.