US EditionMaine’s Food Pantries Stare Down Volunteer Shortage While Anticipating Cuts
Maine food pantries rely on volunteers, mostly retirees, while facing federal aid cuts that have reduced food supplies by half since March, increasing challenges to meet demand.
- Every Wednesday, volunteers at Neighbor's Cupboard in rural Waldo County provide heaping food bags to 25 to 30 families amid growing demand.
- This service occurs as Maine faces food insecurity with about one in seven people affected in 2023 and federal food program cuts since March.
- Pantries like Neighbor's Cupboard rely heavily on an aging volunteer base, with some volunteers in their 80s, while younger volunteers prefer one-time commitments.
- Volunteer Keith Ritchie, 89, said, "I've only missed twice" in over 17 years, and researcher Quixada Moore-Vissing described the situation as "an overwhelmed and overworked society."
- These challenges, combined with rising demand and diminishing supplies, suggest that relying solely on volunteer-run food pantries is insufficient to end hunger in Maine.
35 Articles
35 Articles
Associated Press News
Maine's food pantries stare down volunteer shortage while anticipating cuts
Maine has one of New England’s highest food insecurity rates. Directors of its food pantries say it’s getting harder to make sure people are fed not just because of diminishing federal assistance for food banks and increasing demand.
Maine’s food pantries stare down volunteer shortage
Phylis Allen organizes supplies at Neighbor’s Cupboard, a food pantry in Winterport, Maine, that she has helped run for the past 17 years. Photo by Katherine Emery.Sowing Resilience: Rural communities across the country are grappling with food insecurity. Schoolchildren, seniors, grocers and even farmers face a food crisis compounded by government cuts and soaring costs. The nine stories in this project reveal how communities are navigating — an…
Maine's food pantries stare down volunteer shortage while anticipating cuts - TPR: The Public's Radio
Maine has long been one of the most food insecure states in New England. In March, the Trump administration cut more than $1 billion from two U.S. food programs. The post Maine’s food pantries stare down volunteer shortage while anticipating cuts appeared first on TPR: The Public's Radio.
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