Abundance and Dignity: Food Resources in Maine
By Hannah Jansen
On a sunny day in August, I met Laura Sheinkopf, Program Manager of Waldo County Bounty, at Chase’s Daily, in Belfast. We ate beet and cabbage salads in a casual, outdoor seating area. Across the street, the Belfast Co-op was busy with customers. The sun beat on potted plants outside the café; herbs and flowers, grown by Chase’s farm, were for sale.
Waldo County Bounty (WCB) was founded in 2020, as an emergency campaign. Its founders wanted to alleviate food insecurity in Waldo County, a problem that was exacerbated by the pandemic. They knew there was plenty of good, locally grown food in the area—Waldo County is rich with farms—but it wasn’t necessarily going to those in need. With help from partners, including a transformative fundraising campaign launched by The Lost Kitchen, Erin French’s restaurant in Freedom, they acquired resources to further the work they were doing.
The innovative organization, which hinges on the belief that everyone deserves fresh, nutritious food, is one of many in Maine working to combat hunger, reduce food waste, and strengthen community. Partnerships with, among others, the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, Maine SNAP-Ed, and Johnny’s Selected Seeds, help them leverage their resources.
“We’re coming from a place of abundance and celebration and believing in everybody’s value,” Sheinkopf said.
Its Farm to Pantry program purchases produce from Daybreak Growers Alliance, a women-owned alliance of farms and food partners, and distributes it via soup kitchens and pantries. Waldo County Bounty also supplies fresh produce boxes directly to individuals and families in need. Their “Veggies for All” gleaning program rescues food from farms that might otherwise go bad. In 2022, the organization distributed 42,000+ pounds of food.
WCB’s Give and Take program, meanwhile, helps circulate produce in an anonymous way. Home gardeners can support neighbors in need by donating excess produce to “Give and Take” sites—often built with the help of community members—in their area. The sites, which are maintained by volunteers, can be identified by a signature A-frame sign, and are equipped with coolers stocked with ice; a donations “Dos-and-Don’ts” list; and a waterproof notebook, where people can record what they’re donating. In the spring, seeds and seedlings are available to help people grow their own food and, if possible, donate some back to their neighbors.
Laura’s word, abundance, returned to my mind as I spoke and emailed with other organizations across the state, and not just in relation to produce. Maine Hunters for the Hungry (H4H), part of the Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry, is run in partnership with the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Through H4H, which serves every county in the state, hunters can donate a portion of their harvest to an approved processor in their area—specifically, deer, moose, or bear, which fall under the definition of “wild game meat,” a requirement for the program. The state will pay for the processing of the meat, which can then be donated to a local food pantry, soup kitchen, or shelter, provided it can facilitate the pick-up, and is affiliated with The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), a federal program.
Lean, protein-rich meat is highly valued at many pantries, and hunters don’t always need all their harvest. If they don’t, the program asks, why not get it to someone who does?
“We are very fortunate to have a hunting culture that is willing to put in the time and energy to help feed hungry Mainers,” Jimmy Durda, Emergency Food Manager, said.
In the 2022 hunting season, the program received 88 deer, 24 moose, and 9 bears, or 24,273 pounds of donated meat, including from women hunters. They rely on collaboration to power their work, and are eager to partner with hunters, landowners pursuing nuisance permits, and island communities working to manage their deer populations, as well as to enroll more processors, as many are aging out.
One of H4H’s collaborators, Wayside Food Programs, has been helping feed the greater Portland area since 1986.
Its overarching Food Rescue program salvages food from grocery stores, local farms, and other resources, then distributes it to the many pantries in their network, via their meals program, and at their warehouse—an old ice cream factory. Pantry directors and social workers can “shop” for their organizations’ needs, which vary: some programs seek culturally appropriate food, Emma Berry, Wayside’s Community Programs Manager, told me. Last year, Wayside rescued a stunning 1,000,000 pounds of food, and shared it with more than 70 partner agencies.
Its Community Meals program, which relies on volunteers and previously operated as a soup kitchen, holds nine meals a week, at different community-oriented sites. Because meals make use of locally grown or produced food donations, which are constantly changing, Wayside’s kitchen staff has to think, and cook, creatively. In addition to being a food resource, the meals are an opportunity for social connection, for bringing people together. Some participants attend consistently, and volunteers get to know their guests.
“We all have a common goal at the end of the day, and it’s to make sure people aren’t hungry, and to make sure people are eating nutritious food,” Berry said.
Other Wayside programs include Mobile Food Pantries, community-oriented “Pop-up Picnics,” and Senior Food Boxes, or the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which serves eligible seniors in Cumberland, Oxford, and York counties.
The Piscataquis Regional Food Center (PRFC), too, acts as a food hub. According to the most recent US Census, Maine is the oldest state in the nation. In Piscataquis County, which has a high poverty rate and is extremely rural, it can be especially difficult for seniors, who may not have access to a car or be able to drive, to get food.
PRFC’s Farmshare for Homebound Seniors program offers low-income seniors, who are homebound or who have a disability, a free share of fresh, locally grown produce. Each week, volunteers take orders over the phone and deliver the produce straight to their door, bringing with them human connection. Participants can save their share for items they especially want (Stutzman’s Farm is popular for its berries).
The Center, which values the dignity of its community, is reducing the stigma around needing to ask for help. When the local food cupboard was failing, it merged with PRFC; in February 2023, they reopened their food center, designed to provide a sense of agency: shoppers are greeted by volunteers and encouraged to take what they need. To stock their shelves, they work with farms, fresh rescue retail partners, and Good Shepherd Food Bank. For 40% of those they serve, the store is their primary, or sole, source of food.
“If someone is in need,” Executive Director Kelly Sirimoglu said, “they shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help. The reality is, there are enough resources for everybody.”
After all, if you take a drive in this rural state, it usually doesn’t take long to come across someone selling eggs by the side of the road, or a homemade vegetable stand, or a flower stand. There is—what’s that word?—an abundance. It takes work to get that abundance—greens and roots and fruit—to those who need it most. In Maine, there are people doing the work.
Photographs by Chris Wilkes Photo, Waldo County Bounty and Kelly Sirimoglu
Hannah Jansen’s writing has appeared in The Letters Page, The Literary Review, The Common Online, Tin House Online, Poetry Ireland Review, jubilat, and elsewhere, and she has received residencies from Monson Arts and the Vermont Studio Center. A freelance writer and sometimes copyeditor, she is at work on her first collection of poems, and a work of prose. She lives in Rockport.
