Letter From the Food Bank
Dear Friend,
Summer is wrapping up, and it’s no secret that the season was more challenging than usual this year.
While we’ve all been dealing with the high cost of groceries, many families have the added expense of providing more meals at home during the summer. School is out, and some children no longer have access to free school meals.
Plus, recent data shows that Maine now has the highest rate of food insecurity in New England, with nearly 180,000 people living in food-insecure households and 1 in 5 children facing hunger.
All of this leaves me feeling grateful that while times are still challenging for Mainers, our communities are pulling together to help one another. Donors like you continue to give, helping us to support the community organizations that provide meals and services for children, families, and older Mainers.
I hope you’ll enjoy this issue of Helping Hands and are reminded of the vital difference your gift can make.
Thanks to friends like you, I know we will continue to build stronger, more resilient communities. Remember, every $1 can help provide two nourishing, culturally relevant meals. Thank you!
With gratitude,
Heather Paquette
President
No Matter What’s for Dinner, Family Comes First
If you ask Maria what her favorite meal to make for her family is, she’ll tell you that she loves to prepare foods that are traditional to her family: rice, beans, and chicken. But if you ask her 7-year-old son, Jaden, his favorite food his mom makes?
“Pasta!”
But no matter what’s for dinner, Jaden loves the time he gets with his parents and 2-year-old sister around the table. “I like eating with my family,” he says.
Unfortunately, prices for everything from food to gasoline to everyday household necessities skyrocketed in the last few years, and many of those prices didn’t come back down. That means Maria’s paycheck from her housekeeping work doesn’t stretch as far as it used to.
“I have a job, but that’s not enough,” she explains. “Everything now is expensive.”
During the school year, Jaden is able to eat free breakfast and lunch at school, but during the summer, he loses access to the food his growing body needs. So Maria brings her children to a food distribution at their elementary school sponsored by the local Feeding America food bank. The extra help means she can put enough nutritious food on the table for her family.
“It helps so much,” she says.
Jaden just hopes his mom gets some pasta!
When you give now, you help children and their families stay nourished and full all year long.
Maria and Jaden’s story is representative of the people we serve in Maine.
Mainers Helping Mainers
Irene Blood has always been a helper. Even as a child, she would look for ways to contribute — especially as the oldest of six children! And as she grew and started a family of her own, that drive to help remained strong.
“I was working, and I would help Mom and Dad and my grandparents,” Irene recalls. “If they needed something, then I helped them. It’s just my nature.”
She also understands the importance of stretching what you have, and as a volunteer at the Northport Food Pantry, she sees firsthand how hard that has become as costs for food and household items remain high.
“I know a lot of people that come here. They need the help,” she explains.
Irene grew up in Belfast, worked 30 years in the Belfast court system, and has spent the last 15 years volunteering at the Northport Food Pantry, a partner of Good Shepherd Food Bank. She raised her family here and now has three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, many of whom live nearby. She and her fellow volunteers know the community well. They will often go above and beyond when they hear a neighbor needs a little extra assistance or check in on someone they haven’t seen in a while.
“It means a lot to be able to see people and help them,” Irene says.
We’re so thankful for volunteers like Irene, who keep our community partners going strong. Learn more about volunteering at
gsfb.org/get-involved/volunteer.
“It’s OK to Want Help”
Daisy, Cadence, and Angela have a lot in common. All three are students at Washington County Community College, and all three volunteer their time at their college food pantry, The Caring Cupboard.
These three students also all have one less college stressor because they can access healthy food for themselves at the pantry, too. They can focus more on their studies and spend less time worrying about their next meal, especially since the dining hall is closed on the weekends.
Food insecurity is a growing issue on college campuses and can harm a student’s ability to achieve their educational and professional goals — especially for students who are trying to pay for college and living expenses on their own, going to school while working full time, or taking care of family. These worries are more common among college students than you might think.
“Trying to buy food on your own when trying to go to school and trying to work, it’s hard when you’re first starting out,” explains Daisy, a liberal studies student. “Having this is very good to just be able to come grab a few quick things, so that way you don’t have to go and spend that extra money or use your dining card.”
Students can visit The Caring Cupboard as often as they need to, and all they need is a school ID card to check out. The shelves are filled with pasta, rice, canned tuna and chicken, seasonings, fruits and vegetables, and refrigerated items.
“I think it’s pretty important,” says Angela, an early childhood education student. She says visiting the pantry helps her to save on her food budget.
All three volunteers say they’re thankful for the food they can get at the pantry and that the other students who come through are grateful as well.
“It’s appreciated by more people than you know,” Daisy says. “It kind of helps people understand that it’s OK to want help and to get help. It’s not something that needs to be judged and frowned upon.”
Your support helps programs like The Caring Cupboard relieve hunger and stress for college students facing food insecurity. Thank you!
“This Means So Much”
Children across the state have been in summer vacation mode! That means swimming, vacations, and fun in the sun.
For families with kids who are on summer break, that means providing even more meals at home for growing children who need lots of healthy food to keep them going strong.
Raven, a proud mother of a 5-year-old growing boy, knows how important healthy food can be. Which is why she turns to Irene Chadbourne Ecumenical Food Pantry, a local partner of the Food Bank. As the cost of groceries remains high, your gifts help neighbors access nutritious food so they can stretch their budgets to cover extra expenses.
Raven lives with her boyfriend and her son. She cleans houses, and her boyfriend works as a carpenter, but even with two incomes, making ends meet each month can be hard.
“It helps keep my son fed,” she says. The help she receives from the pantry supplements the groceries they can afford, so they are able to access everything they need.
“We’d struggle without this,” Raven says. “I really appreciate it. A lot of families here can’t live day to day, so this means so much.”
Thank you for helping Mainers like Raven with your gift to Good Shepherd Food Bank!