With frigid temperatures already infiltrating the Lakes Region, local food pantries have seen an increase in the number of people who come to them for assistance.
Most agree the need stems primarily from the rising costs of heating fuel and gasoline.
Marge Govoni, chairman of the Windham Human Services Advisory Board, currently acts as coordinator of the Windham Food Pantry. At this time last year, Govoni says, the pantry served 129 families a month. This year, the number has grown to 164 families.
The Windham pantry receives about half of their yearly needs from monetary and food donations from various groups and individuals. The town of Windham contributes the other half.
“Next year,” Govoni said, “we are asking for an increase in the amount they give us – the first time in quite awhile.”
People may come to the pantry for food and supplies once a month. Govoni says there is an income limit for people signing up for food assistance but that “it’s more the honor system.”
“You don’t want to turn away a deserving person,” she said.
For the past 12 years, Debbie LaPointe has coordinated the Standish Connection, Standish’s food pantry. Currently, the pantry serves 65 people a month, though LaPointe expects the number to increase as the winter goes on.
With yearly donations from Saint Joseph’s College as well as donations from the Boy Scouts and other community groups, LaPointe says the pantry is able to give people one grocery bag full of food once a month.
In Raymond, the food pantry, located at the Lakes Region Baptist Church on Route 302, has seen a doubling of demand.
Its director, Jennifer Hall, says 40 families come through twice monthly, up from 20 families two years ago. Hall believes the increase is due both to a greater number of elderly people on fixed incomes and to increased awareness that the pantry exists.
Although the volunteers distribute meats, they set most of the other foods on shelves with limit signs and let people choose.
“We think it’s better for people to be able to make a selection,” Hall said.
The town of Casco has two food pantries – one that operates out of the Casco Alliance Church on Route 302 and one from the Casco Village Church on Meadow Road. In combination, the pantries serve 55 to 65 families each month.
According to Theda Logan, of the Village Church pantry, numbers have increased by more than 50 percent.
“A lot of people are disabled,” Logan said, “and a lot are single mothers.”
Logan points out that food stamps don’t cover items like toilet paper and detergent so people are particularly grateful to receive those from the pantry.
“Some people will come at the very last minute because they don’t want to be seen and it just breaks my heart,” Logan said.
Pastor Chip Morton of the Alliance Church, who runs their food pantry along with his wife Kathy, says they are open once, soon to be twice, monthly for people to get groceries. The church also serves a free dinner.
The Sebago Food Pantry is run by Roberta Douglass, who says about 20 individuals come to them once a month for food. This year, while numbers are up, the Sebago pantry’s donations are down.
But where do area pantries get the foods they, in turn, distribute?
Some come from group or private monetary and food donations. The pantries all agree certain items are always in demand. Non-perishables are particularly important because many of the pantries do not have extensive cold storage equipment.
Rice, pasta, peanut butter and jelly, paper goods, personal hygiene products, and canned goods – vegetables fruits and meats – are all appreciated by the pantries and recipients alike.
But when the pantries need additional foods to stock their shelves and, in some cases, their freezers and refrigerators, they go to the USDA food rescue in Sanford and to the Good Shepard Food Bank in Lewiston.
At the Good Shepard, food pantries can buy most items for 16 cents per pound.
“Our food primarily is donated from grocers’ dented cans, crushed boxes, overstocks and label changes,” said JoAn Chartier, Good Shepard’s public relations and education coordinator. “We sort, inspect, clean and distribute to agencies.”
As a bank, not a pantry, the Good Shepard serves more than 500 agencies – not individuals – including homeless shelters, soup kitchens, recovery centers, S.A.F.E. houses (State Affiliated Foster Enterprises) and underprivileged children’s camps.
Good Shepard belongs to America’s Second Harvest, a national organization that receives donations from corporations like Nabisco, Kraft and Keebler. And, according to Chartier, more than 60 percent of Good Shepard’s food comes from Hannaford’s Maine Reclamation Center.
As needy as many people are in the winter months, Chartier says they see the need increase for many children in the summer. This is the season when Maine’s 67,000 school-aged children who qualify for free or reduced school lunches are out of school and need assistance. She says soup kitchens report more children in their lines during summer vacation.
But this winter has already brought many Maine agencies to “a crisis state.”
“What they’re finding is that people who have never asked for help before are having to ask for help – the working poor,” Chartier said. “With both people working, if one loses a job, they need assistance. Oftentimes it’s just a bridge to help people stay on their feet until another job comes along.”
With the help of about 350 volunteers a week, the Good Shepard Food Bank distributed 8.8 million pounds of foods and other products in the state of Maine last year.
“One-half or more of our volunteers would qualify to walk into a food pantry but there’s something about preserving the dignity of people – it gives them the opportunity to give back, to feel productive and appreciated. They know they’re very valuable here – they’re our biggest donors,” Chartier said.
And volunteers in the Lakes Region food pantries are treasured as well. Area pantry coordinators express gratitude for these workers and for those who contribute their gifts of food and money. If you or someone you know needs assistance, you can call your town’s office for more information.
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