Town & Country staff present a check at The Locker Project. The contribution will fund close to 10,000 meals to students and families over the holidays. Pictured from left are: TCFCU’s Lisa Bellefleur and Meghan Balvin, Locker Project Executive Director Kathryn Sargent and Town & Country’s Linda Halleran, Wendy Glaude and Jon Paradise.
The Town & Country Federal Credit Union is donating contributions totaling $5,500 to seven hunger-related organizations in York and Cumberland counties. The funds will aid the food pantries in South Portland, Scarborough, Saco, Biddeford, and Preble Street and Wayside Food Program in Portland. The donations will also benefit the Locker Project, which provides meals to children and families in schools and neighborhood sites throughout Cumberland County.
“We’re particularly thrilled with Town & Country Federal Credit Union,” said Dwayne Hopkins, director of the South Portland Food Cupboard. “And the reason for that is we actually started around the same year and in the same facility in St. John’s Catholic Church back in 1997. And they have been our longest-standing financial institution that we’ve done business with, and we’ve done business with them for the past 25 years. They’ve been very generous to us through the years with offering volunteers, offering financial help, and they’ve taken good care of our money as well. Partnerships like that and friendships like that aren’t necessarily easy to come by, and so for us to have that 25-year relationship and for them to still give and donate back to the food cupboard, we’re certainly thrilled.”
High prices for food and heating fuel have greatly increased local need for food pantries. In the last fiscal year from July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022, the South Portland Food Cupboard served over 12,000 people. This current year, the Cupboard is on track to feed over 20,000 people between July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023.
“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,” said Scarborough Food Pantry’s Volunteer Director Ellen Parenteau. The Scarborough Food Pantry on average serves about 175 households, including many senior households.
“A Locker Project Community Partner since 2016, Town & Country Federal Credit Union’s contributions to our school-based child hunger programs make a real difference for Greater Portland children and families,” said Kathryn Sargent, executive director of The Locker Project. “This year, Town & Country provided generous funding and volunteers for our Winter Warm-up bags, a special edition of our purple staples bags for elementary school students to take home to share with their families before winter break. As we work to share even more healthy food with our neighbors in need, we are truly grateful for Town & Country’s ongoing support!”
Contributions make a big difference to local food pantries, Hopkins said. “We need to have gifts of all sizes coming in and (Town & Country) provided some of those gifts of all sizes, and they’ve gotten the word out and the message out as well about the food cupboard, and they’ve spread word of mouth and it does very well for us,” he said. “It encourages other financial institutions to give and to be aware that right here locally in their backyard there are food cupboards and organizations like ours that do need money and so donations come in that way as well.”
“With our commitment to ‘local helping local’, ensuring people in our community have enough to eat is about as local as it gets,” said Jon Paradise, senior vice president of communications, marketing, and community outreach at Town & Country. “Food is a basic need and the holidays should be a time of joy not worry about where someone’s next meal is going to come from, especially children and families. If our contribution can help provide a little joy to those in need, then that is a ‘gift’ we can all cherish.”
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