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Food Bank "Goes Orange" for Hunger Action Month
 September was Hunger Action Month and it was a busy time here at the Food Bank. During the month-long campaign, food banks across the country joined with Feeding America to raise awareness about hunger in America. The Food Bank's president, Kristen Miale, used Hunger Action Month as an opportunity to take the SNAP Challenge. For a week, her family ate on a SNAP (or food stamp) budget of $4.50 a day per person. You can read about her experiences in this post on the Food Bank's blog. |
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School Pantry Grows to Meet Needs of Kids and Families
 The Food Bank's latest effort to address child hunger in Maine is off to an ambitious start. The School Pantry program is a child hunger initiative that provides low-income families with an easily accessible source of healthy and nutritious food to prepare at home. Schools that participate in the program open a food pantry on the premises to serve children who are struggling with hunger and their families.
Good Shepherd Food Bank is growing the School Pantry program with help from our Child Hunger Heroes - donors that have made leadership gifts to help end child hunger in Maine. These donors include Procter & Gamble, Maine Credit Union League, Hannaford Supermarkets, and Morgan Stanley.
Read more about School Pantry >
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Partner Spotlight - Freeport Community Services
 | | Sue Mack and FCS volunteer Paula spent 24 hours outside in February to raise funds. |
Freeport Community Services (FCS) was established in 1974 as a grassroots agency designed to address unmet basic needs in the communities of Freeport and Pownal. FCS offers a variety of direct service programs, such as a food pantry, a medical equipment loan closet, and heating assistance. The thrift shop and estate annex provide low cost or free clothing, household goods and furniture to those in need. Free lunch is provided at least three times a week for anyone who stops by, regardless of need. Seasonal programs, such as summer bag lunch programs at seven sites, a summer camp scholarship program, school supply drives, Thanksgiving boxes and dinners, and Holiday Helpline are also provided.
One of FCS's most utilized programs is the Food Pantry. They saw a 17 percent increase from October 2012 to October 2013 in the number of patrons requesting food assistance. Patrons can access the outer room for fresh produce and bread twice a week, and the inner room for meats and other goods once per week. Sue Mack, Family Services Coordinator for FCS for the past ten years, says that this is only possible with the help of partner organizations such as the Good Shepherd Food Bank. In addition, "We are very fortunate to have good neighbors such as Shaw's, Hannaford, and Bow Street Market, who donate to the Food Pantry on a weekly basis," says Mack.
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Hunger Rates Remain High in Annual Food Security Survey
The USDA released its annual food security numbers in September, announcing that 16 million American children now face hunger. Each year, USDA conducts a nationwide survey to learn about food insecurity, which refers to the inability to access enough nutritious food to live a healthy life.
Overall, the rate of food insecurity has remained virtually unchanged since 2008. Here in Maine, 15 percent of households are facing hunger. This means there are still more than 200,000 Mainers struggling to access enough food, including 1 in 4 children. Maine is ranked 18th in the nation for food insecurity and third for very low food security, which refers to chronic hunger.
View the USDA report on food security in US households > [Temporarily unavailable due to government shutdown]
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Local Farmers Share Harvest with Mainers in Need
 Mainers Feeding Mainers, Good Shepherd Food Bank's farm partnership program, is nearing the end of its fourth growing season! While the season got off to a slow start because of weather conditions, growth picked up and soon our partner food pantries and meal sites were receiving cucumbers, summer squash, green beans, kale, chard, radishes, cabbage, corn, tomatoes and broccoli. Now, the winter root veggies are coming in to our warehouses.
This season, we worked with 20 farmers who grew vegetables for purchase by the Food Bank. In an exciting new development, we are now partnering with 7 apple growers and are expecting approximately 200,000 pounds of apples this fall and winter.
Read more about Mainers Feeding Mainers >
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