WESTFIELD — The shelves were empty in late October at the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry and assistance ministry at St. Mary parish here on Bartlett Street.

And Christine Farrell, president of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, said she really wanted to cry.

Then, high school students came through.

“‘Oh, Mrs. Farrell, we had to have a dress-down day. We had to help,’” a student told her, Farrell said. She recounted the exchange Thursday to the Most. Rev. William D. Byrne, the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield. “Then I really had to cry.”

Byrne, the spiritual leader of 199,000 Catholics in 79 parishes across Hampen, Hampshire, Franklin and Berkshire counties, is putting out the call for everyone to step up and help support food pantries now that families are feeling

See Full Page