TURNERS FALLS — The Franklin County Community Meals Program’s Hope Against Hunger Auction is back on Saturday, May 24, for the 21st year of raising money to support its community meals and food pantry services.

The event, which will be held at the Shea Theater Arts Center starting at 6:30 p.m., invites people to build community through networking, all while supporting the Franklin County Community Meals Program in a raffle and a live and silent auction featuring a wide variety of donated items.

Attendees could win tickets to a Red Sox game or a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert in Lenox, two adult passes for skiing at Berkshire East Mountain Resort in Charlemont, or a week-long stay in a cabin in Hawaii, among other donations of food, gift baskets and goods. Live music from Low Class Citizens of Orange and Eastern Point of Worcester will play throughout the event as guests enjoy hors d’oeuvres from Stone Soup Cafe and a cash bar.

“The event started basically out of the need to fundraise, as well as partner with local organizations and businesses just to take a stand against food insecurity in the area,” Franklin County Community Meals Program Executive Director Valerie Hudson said. “And as you see recently with the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) cuts and USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) cuts, it’s happened even more frequently lately.”

Last year, the auction took a hiatus, and it returns during a time of increased community need, and at a time when the meals program is seeking financial and operational support to continue providing meals across Franklin County, Hudson explained.

According to the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, there has been an increase in people in Franklin County being assisted by the food bank and its partners, including the Franklin County Community Meals Program. Data for Franklin County collected from February 2024 to February 2025 shows an average of 12,871 people served by the food bank and its partners, versus data from February 2022 to February 2023, showing 9,157 served on average.

Hudson said there has been an increase in people coming through their community meal sites and the Orange Food Pantry, and with the elimination of millions of dollars in USDA aid to food banks earlier this year, the Franklin County Community Meals Program is also in need of support. Certain USDA protein and juice options the organization typically purchases to stock its pantry are becoming less available.

“I place the food bank orders, so I watch them pretty frequently, and the options from last year to this year have definitely changed,” Hudson said. “There’s not a lot of USDA protein or produce anymore, and that’s what we heavily depended on.”

She hopes the Hope Against Hunger Auction can help the Franklin County Community Meals Program raise money to purchase food and to continue funding its day-to-day operations.

A silver lining, Hudson pointed out, is the opportunity to build more connections with local farmers and community members to collect food for the Orange Food Pantry and the community meals. If there are people interested in volunteering, Hudson said the door is always open.

“Local farmers — if you’re not going to be selling something by the time that three-month expiration date in the freezer is up, let us know,” she said. “Let us know, and we will come and we will get it.”

Tickets to the Hope Against Hunger Auction are $21 in advance and $25 at the door. Tickets are available at www.showclix.com/event/fccmp.

Erin-Leigh Hoffman can be reached at ehoffman@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.