Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation

Loaves & Fishes Food Pantry partnered with Families First Community Center (FFCC) to host the initiative, “Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation,” in the week leading up to February school vacation (February 13-17). This event, in which meal kits for area families were passed out by volunteers and staff during pantry open hours, aimed to address the gap in school-provided meals for students during vacation week.

Many children and their families face higher rates of food insecurity during school vacations with this absence of school meals. Utilizing grant funding made available by FFCC, the pantry stocked the meal kits with the components of a holiday-style meal (turkey, ham, pork, or beef paired with a variety of sides and fixings). The community response to this event was wonderful; the pantry was able to provide over 200 boxes of food to patrons in addition to their regular pantry offerings.

Lizzie Meier, a member of Healthy Acadia’s SNAP-Ed Nutrition Education team, volunteered on Monday, February 13th with this initiative, complementing the pantry’s food boxes with recipes from SNAP-Ed and the Good Shepherd Food Bank. The addition of these recipes was a part of SNAP-Ed’s mission to make nutritious food more accessible to community members with limited income by breaking down barriers to access.

Food accessibility can come down to what recipes you know and have available - if community members receive food that they are unfamiliar cooking with, or that they are unable to come up with recipe ideas for, that nutritious food can be wasted. Additionally, Healthy Acadia was also able to donate 150 COVID-19 rapid at-home test kits for community members utilizing the pantry during this time.

This is an increased time of need in our community. Charles Dayhoff, Loaves & Fishes’ Executive Director, has seen the number of families served by the pantry more than double since moving to their new location at 137 Downeast Highway in Ellsworth. The pantry also continues to break daily records of shoppers, the latest being 150+. The pantry and others across Maine anticipate the need to grow this spring, as many Maine households that currently receive SNAP benefits will see a decrease in their monthly allotment beginning in March - the additional emergency benefits put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic will end on February 28, 2023.

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