Both donors and the hungry are reaching out to Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, local pantry and lunch site as SNAP cutoff looms

WEST SPRINGFIELD — The phone is ringing, the email inbox busy at The Parish Cupboard in West Springfield.

With Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits soon to run out in the federal government shutdown, people are looking for alternative ways to feed their families, said Robert Fastie, the executive director. But with SNAP running out of money Friday and in the news, donors are also contacting The Parish Cupboard. Twenty online donations Wednesday — $10, $20, $50 at a time — and it’s enough so that fundraising is up 10% compared with October last year.