Throughout the holiday season, Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program sees the generosity of our friends and community members more clearly than any other time of the year.
Take a scroll through our Instagram page and you’ll see photo after photo documenting food drives, farm hauls, and pallets of groceries from our retail partners, replete with the festive colors of the season — crimson cranberries, the warm ocher of butternut squash—and ready to fill the Thanksgiving plates or holiday baskets of anyone who may need a helping hand.
It is a testament to the resilient heart of our community that our cup still runneth over so much after a difficult growing season, with crop yields down due to unusual temperature fluctuations and interminable rain. Throughout it all, the sharing tables remained full, and vegetables were delivered.
Food drives are a quintessential tradition for many, as we choose to expend our overflow of holiday cheer making life just a little better for those with whom we share our world. We are also astoundingly grateful to all those who opt to host fund drives — without a doubt the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to helping those in need. Through our network, MCHPP can make full use of government programs and bulk ordering to turn pocket change into a basket of groceries — easily triple the impact per dollar.
This year we’ve begun publishing, at the start of each month, a list of the top 5 most needed items for our food pantry, and we’ve been so gratified by the response. We’ve heard from community members who check each month’s list to see what food donation will make the biggest impact—and it’s also fascinating to see how needs change, and which stalwarts stick around (pasta, anyone?). Our food bank is also always happy to relieve you of your leftover egg cartons, clean paper or reusable grocery bags, and extra (new) plastic storage bags, all of which are used regularly in distribution — and we go through a lot!
And, of course, the season of gratitude wouldn’t be complete without a shout-out to our amazing volunteers, whose dedication, good humor, and generosity make what we do possible. Our volunteers cook up tasty meals, sing and dance as they sort groceries, and welcome guests with a familiar smile; they are embedded in every aspect of what we do at MCHPP, and our appreciation for them is unmatched.
As we move from the end of this year to the beginning of the next, we thank you all, and look ahead to new challenges, a new growing season, a new opportunity to share what we have with our neighbors and friends.
Kenyon King is communications coordinator for Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program.
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