The Gorham Food Pantry has outgrown its space, as volunteers who filled bags in the cramped closet that serves as the pantry’s home could attest last Thursday.
The 22-inch-wide walkway between the pantry’s shelves at Saint Anne’s Catholic Church affords scant room to work. “We have to squeeze in and out,” said volunteer Joan Harriman of South Gorham Baptist Church, as she carried grocery bags from the closet.
Since being founded by the Gorham Ecumenical Commission in 1997, the Gorham Food Pantry has been housed at Saint Anne’s. But with a growing need in Gorham to provide assistance to more families, the food pantry is hoping to find a larger home.
Fran Doucette, director of the food pantry, said any new quarters would have to be handicapped accessible and have parking. The food pantry would also need electricity and water. “We’re asking for space here in town,” Doucette said. “We can live with what we have, but it’s tough.”
The food pantry has been forced to improvise, squeezing by in a tight spot. Besides its 78-square-foot closet and a refrigerator and a freezer, boxes of food are also tucked under a stairwell at Saint Anne’s.
“It’s possibly not critical, but it’s a pressing problem,” Doucette said about the cramped conditions.
A look at recent statistics shows that the number of families in need in Gorham has been on the upswing, placing more demand on the pantry for services. In May, the pantry served 87 households, where just nine years ago, it only provided food for 15 families a month.
When demand for services was smaller, the pantry didn’t require much space. If it had 10 jars of peanut butter and 12 cans of tuna fish in those days, the volunteers considered themselves blessed. “We felt we were golden,” Doucette said.
Now, because of the shortage of space, shelves have to be frequently restocked and there’s no set schedule to unload trucks of food. Doucette arrived at 7 a.m. on Thursday and spent 90 minutes stocking shelves, preparing to serve clients.
The food pantry is open from 9-11 a.m. on Thursdays and 5:30-7 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month. With the exception of emergencies, each household is allowed to go to the food pantry once a month.
The food pantry has 71 volunteers and five churches are involved. They are South Gorham Baptist, School Street United Methodist, North Gorham Congregational and First Parish Congregational in addition to Saint Anne’s. Each of the five once had its own food pantry.
Doucette said she was thankful for Saint Anne’s support of the pantry. “Everyone has been good to us here,” Doucette said.
Housing for the food pantry would also have to be large enough to provide privacy for clients. “We keep a level of privacy and dignity here,” Doucette said.
Gorham has three senior citizen complexes. And many food pantry clients are elderly, who find fixed incomes don’t stretch far enough. Other clients include those who have had incomes eaten up by life-threatening illness or a variety of other misfortunes.
A food pantry volunteer, Pat Runnells of South Gorham Baptist, said most clients go there each month. “It’s surprising how many really need it,” Runnells said.
An elderly widow, who declined to give her last name, saying she wished to be identified only as Betty, depends on the food pantry to feed five grandchildren, including one baby. “If it wasn’t for the food pantry, my grandchildren wouldn’t have anything to eat,” she said. “I wouldn’t know what I would do.”
Betty is retired and receives Social Security. Because of marital problems, her son hitchhiked to Maine with three little children at Christmas last year. “I’ve never had to ask for help until this year,” said Betty, who also suffers from a medical problem. “I hope to get on my feet to help back.”
The food pantry maintains records and there’s a “very” low incidence of abuse. “Everyone who comes here needs it,” Doucette said.
The community has rallied in Gorham to help those in need. Mail carriers, students and scouts have all helped. A local bookstore provides the food pantry with books for children.
The food pantry does need laundry detergent, bar soap and disposable diapers. Those are some of the things that the food pantry can’t buy at the Good Shepherd Food Bank in Auburn, where the food pantry purchases food for 16 cents a pound.
Because of limited space, clients can’t pick what they need from the closet shelves. Volunteers pack plastic shopping bags with basics like cereal, rice, pasts, canned fruit and vegetables and tuna fish along with paper towels and toilet paper.
If a client doesn’t want an item in the bag, it can be replaced on a shelf or traded. “My dream is to let people shop off the shelves,” Doucette said.
Doucette hopes the dream becomes a reality for the food pantry. She said scouts could reconstruct space for the pantry as a project and a new home would provide middle and high school students an opportunity for community service. “It’s like heaven, the promise is down the road,” Doucette said.
For more information on the Gorham Food Pantry or to volunteer, leave a message at 839-4857
Cutline (Food pantry volunteer 1) 
(Food Pantry Volunteer 6)
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