Pictured is the South Portland Food Cupboard. A food drive at the police stations of South Portland, Scarborough an Cape Elizabeth will take place Dec. 17 to raise donations for food pantries in each community. Courtesy photo
The police departments of South Portland, Scarborough, and Cape Elizabeth are running a united team effort to raise funds and non-perishable food donations for the pantry in each municipality.
On Saturday, Dec. 17, the “Pack the Pantries” food drives will be underway. The drives are being run by the local police departments and Project GRACE. The drives and fundraiser are benefiting the South Portland Food Cupboard, the Scarborough Food Pantry, and Judy’s Pantry in Cape Elizabeth.
Food pantries are now more important than ever with inflation and rising costs, according to Dwayne Hopkins, director of the South Portland Food Cupboard and member of the Project GRACE team.
“The need is just continuing to increase exponentially, quite honestly,” Hopkins said. “With inflation and fuel prices and less and less opportunity for people to be able to really save resources to meet their needs. This is just a great time to be able to provide through food pantries. I know that through our own food pantry we’ve seen quite an increase in new recipients. And new recipients have basically been people who have been on fixed incomes who previously have been able to make it on their own but now they just don’t have enough.”
“As the weather turns colder, as prices at the grocery stores continue to be high, we are seeing more and more neighbors stop by the food pantry,” Scarborough Food Pantry’s Volunteer Director Ellen Parenteau said.
The joint food drives began when local businessman and philanthropist Eddie Woodin came to Project GRACE with his own contribution and asked that a community effort to raise more for the food pantries take place. Project GRACE reached out to the local police departments, who agreed to put the drives together. Their goal is to raise $15,000.
“We’re real thankful for the police departments for their generosity to be able to host these food drives,” said Hopkins. “And to give people an opportunity to see public safety in a great light. And the fact that our police chiefs and our police departments in the area do care about the individual citizens in their communities. I know I certainly appreciate that and we just want to say thank you to the chiefs and just appreciate what they do as well.”
Donating is easy: one can give online at https://fooddrivemaine.weebly.com/ or visit any of the three public safety buildings on Dec. 17 from 9 to 11 a.m. with non-perishable foods, cash, or checks payable to the South Portland Food Cupboard. All the funds raised and food collected will be will shared with the pantries in South Portland, Scarborough, and Cape Elizabeth.
“Dropping off a couple extra canned goods might not seem like a big deal or all that impactful,” Hopkins said. “But if each of our 55,000 neighbors in South Portland, Cape Elizabeth, and Scarborough gave a couple extra cans or boxes of food, you’re talking 100,000 items that our three pantries can distribute to hundreds of neighbors in need. That is super impactful.”
Another way individuals can help is by volunteering at the pantries. “The real difference-makers are the volunteers over at the food pantries,” Woodin said. “People who go in every week to serve our neighbors; those are the real heroes, alongside our men and women in public safety who are stepping up to respond to the community need with this team effort for our neighbors, especially seniors on fixed incomes, who just can’t make ends meet right now.”
Giving food, money, or time make an incredible difference, Hopkins said.
“Not only do we need to have people give financially and give food items, to volunteer at your local food cupboard is one of the greatest joys that people will ever receive,” he said. “To be able to offer people hope and dignity. (It) brings people the kind of feeling of fulfillment that they need to have as a volunteer, and the recipients receive the hope that they need to have to know that they can make it another day, that they can make it another week, that they can provide for themselves and their families and through this holiday season be able to enjoy it in a way they thought they never could.”
For any other questions, people can contact Dwayne Hopkins at foodcupboard@maine.rr.com or 207-874-0379.
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