Heat or Eat? - Good Shepherd Food Bank

GoodNews
NON PROFIT ORG.
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
Lewiston, ME 04240
PERMIT NO. 45
Good Shepherd Food Bank
3121 Hotel Road, P.O. Box 1807
Auburn, ME 04211-1807
WINTER 2013
Phone: (207) 782-3554
Web: feedingMaine.org
In This Issue
A YEAR IN REVIEW
2012 Year in Review
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
Maine Farmers
Fighting Hunger
Kids Café Expands to
New Sites
Dine & Donate at
Portland Restaurants
Connect With Us
Provided more than 10 million meals to
Maine families struggling to access enough
nutritious food.
Distributed more than 670,000 lbs. of
nutritious food to communities in need through
120 Food Mobile trips in all 16 counties.
Portland Distribution Center
Distributed 900,000 lbs. of locally grown
produce to partner food pantries and meal
sites – 400,000 lbs. was purchased from farms
and 500,000 lbs. was donated by the dedicated
farmers who grew the food.
Made ending child hunger a top priority
for Good Shepherd Food Bank by expanding
the BackPack and Kids Café programs and
launching three Summer Lunch sites in
Bangor.
Website, Facebook, Twitter
Reached 1,000 low-income families with
cooking and nutrition education classes to help
them prepare healthy food on a tight budget.
Continued to stretch each and every dollar
donated to the Food Bank to provide 4 meals
for Maine families facing hunger.
Auburn Main Offices &
Distribution Center
3121 Hotel Road PO Box 1807
Auburn, ME 04211 • (207) 782-3554
Brewer Distribution Center
88 Stevens Road, Brewer, ME 04412
(207) 989-4672
Heat or Eat?
This winter, many of our neighbors are facing the hard choice
between heating their homes and putting food on the table.
Nearly 200,000 people in Maine are facing hunger, including 1 in 4 of our
children. Among those served by the Food Bank, 56 percent report having to
choose between paying for food or paying for utilities such as heating fuel.
By providing food to these families, we help them stretch their budgets to
meet basic needs and get through the tough winter months.
111 Pine Tree Industrial Parkway
Portland, ME 04102 • (207) 761-0542
feedingmaine.org
facebook.com/feedingmaine
twitter.com/feedingmaine
During the 2012 season, 10 local farms provided fresh fruits and vegetables to the Food Bank’s
warehouses in Auburn, Portland, and Brewer. An additional 10 farms provided products directly to
local hunger relief organizations in their communities. This model proved successful – we were able
to provide 900,000 lbs. of fresh fruits and vegetables to our partner agencies. While we purchased
400,000 of those pounds through the Mainers Feeding Mainers program, the remaining 500,000 lbs.
was donated by the farmers.
We are committed to bringing hope
to families this winter.
Learn more about how you can help at:
www.feedingMaine.org
Maine Farmers Fighting Hunger
In November, the Food Bank brought together its farm partners for a luncheon to thank the people
who make the Mainers Feeding Mainers program possible. Thanks to the Food Bank’s 20 farm
partners, we are able to purchase and distribute nutritious, locally grown foods to people across the
state who need it most.
Each $1 donation to Good Shepherd Food Bank
provides 4 meals for Mainers facing hunger.
You can help Maine families
avoid this difficult choice.
2012 was another busy year at Good Shepherd Food Bank. Together with our partner
food pantries, meal sites, and other community organizations we distributed 13 million
pounds of food to Maine families in need. Here’s a look at what we accomplished together:
Adelaide L. from Washburn School
in Auburn drops off a food donation
gathered during her birthday party.
These farmers have shown great dedication not just to their work of producing high quality food,
but also to the task of supporting Good Shepherd Food Bank and communities throughout Maine.
Thanks to their willingness to partner with us, the Mainers Feeding Mainers program has become a
model for other food banks across the country.
BOARD OF
DIRECTORS
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Dear Friend of the Food Bank,
Executive Officers
David C. Pierson, Chair
Eaton Peabody
Mike Harris, Vice Chair
John LeMieux, Secretary
Anton LeMieux Financial Group
Kenneth Ray, Treasurer
Directors
Meg Baxter
Mitchell Institute
Rich Bourget
Walmart Distribution Center
Jill Brown
Safe Voices
Ted Brown
Brown Sustainability Solutions
Casey Cramton
Dead River Company
Anthony DiSotto
Key Corp.
Gerald Douglass
Jerry Douglass Realty
Ray Lombard
Certified Public Accountant
Randy Mraz
Todd Nadeau
Red Cross - Pine Tree Chapter
Erik Olson
Farm Credit of Maine
Daniel N. Reardon
Practical Decisions Consulting
Do You Have
A Will To
End Hunger?
One of the many
benefits of being the
president of Good
Shepherd Food Bank is
that I get invited to a lot
of interesting events.
Recently, I attended a
talk by former United
States Senator George
Mitchell hosted by the Maine Community
Foundation. Senator Mitchell talked about
the need to educate our children, a need that
his foundation is dedicated to addressing.
His speech was inspiring, but also highlighted
the challenge that low-income children face.
He discussed how you can predict, with
alarming accuracy, a person’s future by the
time they are age five. Put simply, “kids that
start behind, stay behind.” He then went on to
say that “while no one should be guaranteed
success, everyone should have a chance.”
These words resonated with me because it
reminded me of the fundamental role the
Food Bank plays in ending poverty.
When our children aren’t fed the nutritious
food they need, they are unable to develop
their minds to their fullest potential. The child
is set up to fail before they were even given
the chance to thrive. Statistics demonstrate
that children from low-income families have
lower test scores, more behavior problems,
and are absent more often from school.
While there are certainly many factors that
contribute to such outcomes, how many
of these problems could be solved just by
making sure a child has a full stomach? How
do you perform at your job when you’re
hungry?
This is what motivates me and our staff
every day - knowing that our work can be the
difference between someone living up to their
potential versus just holding on. We have big
challenges ahead to be sure, but like Senator
Mitchell, I am optimistic about our future.
Here is what I have learned in my first few
months on the job that make me hopeful we
IN THE COMMUNITY
are on the right path toward a Maine where
no one goes hungry:
Kids Café Expands to New Sites
Our greatest strength is our network of
partner agencies - the food pantries and
meal sites across Maine who are serving
families in need directly. Neither of us can
accomplish our mission without the other
and with that shared purpose come shared
solutions. We will work together to find new
sources of food and get it to those in need.
Thanks to support from Shaw’s Supermarkets, Good Shepherd
Food Bank has expanded its successful Kids Café program to
two additional sites to provide children at risk of hunger with
healthy meals and snacks. The new Kids Café sites are located
at Oxford School Age Child Care & Preschool in Oxford and
Tree Street Youth Center in Lewiston.
We have an incredibly dedicated and
passionate staff who are committed to our
mission. They continually go above and
beyond to execute their work.
We are distributing more fresh produce
than ever. Several years ago, Good Shepherd
Food Bank provided no produce. This year,
we gave away 900,000 pounds of fresh
produce, all from Maine farmers. Not only
are we helping those in need, but we did it
in a way that supported our local agricultural
sector at the same time.
We are well on our way to completing
our strategic plan. Our business model is
changing. Because of improvements in retail
grocery inventory systems, each year we
receive less and less donated non-perishable
food. At the same time, grocery stores
are moving toward eliminating waste of
perishable food. This is the opportunity we
see, but it will require a different approach.
Despite the growing need, I am confident
that we will rise to the challenge and do the
work that we’ve been doing for the past 30
years - we will feed Maine’s hungry. And
equally important, we strive to not just end
hunger for today, but remove the fear and
replace it with the security that there will be
enough food tomorrow.
Sincerely,
Kristen Miale
President
Learn more about making a bequest
to Good Shepherd Food Bank.
Contact us today at: 207-782-3554 x1124
The new sites will serve up to 150 individual children
each weekday afternoon. Kids Cafés provide free meals
and snacks to low-income children through a variety of
community locations where children already congregate
during the afterschool hours—such as community centers,
churches or public schools. Kids Cafés not only provide kids
with something healthy to eat after school, but also a safe
space with adult supervision so they can work on homework,
explore new interests, or just hang out with friends in a
wholesome environment. All Kids Café programs also offer
nutrition education throughout the school year.
“The variety and quantity of nutritious foods provided by
the Kids Café program has helped us continue to provide all
our children with a healthy snack each day and allowed us
to focus our resources on developmental programming for
the kids,” said Tracey Cox, administrator at Oxford School
Age Child Care & Preschool. “The kids look forward to
seeing what new recipes and foods they will learn about at
Mission Possible’s Kids Café in Westbrook Maine. At a recent class, students
learn about baking with healthy sugar alternatives.
the monthly nutrition education classes offered by representatives
of the Food Bank.”
Good Shepherd Food Bank launched the Kids Café program in
2011 at Mission Possible Teen Center in Westbrook. We are
one of nearly 120 Feeding America Food Banks operating Kids
Cafés nationwide. There are over 1,500 Kids Café sites at schools
and other afterschool organizations across the country that are
collectively serving more than 122,000 children each year.
Dine & Donate at
Portland Restaurants
Enjoy special savings at Portland-area restaurants
who are donating a portion of your tab to help
Mainers facing hunger!
The Food Bank is partnering with gr8PortlandME.com
and Portland-area restaurants on a year-round fundraising
program called Dine & Donate. Each participating restaurant
is offering GIVE certificates with discounts for dining out.
For every GIVE certificate that diners use, 10% of the value
will be donated to Good Shepherd Food Bank and three other
deserving Maine charities.
We encourage you to take advantage of these special savings
when you dine out in the Portland area. Your dining dollars will
go further than just an enjoyable meal. You’ll be supporting
the Food Bank and helping to raise awareness of the fight to
eliminate hunger in Maine. It’s a win-win!
Participating restaurants include Sonny’s, Local 188, Zapoteca,
Nosh Kitchen Bar, and Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse, and more.
To learn more about the Dine & Donate program
and to purchase GIVE certificates, please visit:
www.gr8PortlandME.com