THE MOBILE food pantry truck from Good Shepherd Food Bank provides fresh produce, canned goods, bread and frozen meats to anyone once a month in Brunswick. In this August 2013 file photo, patrons line up to collect groceries during a mobile food pantry stop at Grace Episcopal Church in Bath.
The number of those in the Mid-coast unsure of their next meal is rising, but local agencies are working to ensure that those in need a have a little more piece of mind. Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program, in cooperation with Good Shepherd Food Bank, will host a mobile food pantry from 5-7 p.m. Thursday at MCHPP’s location on 84 Union St. in Brunswick. Additionally, Good Shepherd will be offering samples, recipes and nutrition education.
Good Shepherd’s mobile food truck comes to Brunswick once a month, and is a way for those in need to get food with no questions asked or eligibility requirements, according to Hannah Chatalbash, program and development associate with Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program.
The need, she said, appears greater than ever.
“People will start lining up two to four hours before it starts,” said Chatalbash. “It gets very crowded, and you usually see about 200 households go through the line.”
There were 750 visits to MCHPP’s food pantry in April, the highest number yet in 2014, and higher than any month in 2013. Almost 2,900 meals were served at MCHPP’s soup kitchen in April, higher than any month in the preceding year.
“That’s scary,” Chatalbash said. “The numbers are only increasing.”
MCHPP and Good Shepherd have been looking to fight food insecurity on multiple fronts. That includes MCHPP’s BackPack Program, which supplies school children and their families with enough food to get them through the weekend. Nearly 200 children participated in the program when it started in fall 2013. That figure has increased to almost 260.
Food insecurity is a concept that includes those who are hungry or at risk of being hungry by not having a reliable food source, according to Chatalbash.
“It’s not something you always see,” she said, “because food insecurity doesn’t mean you have absolutely nothing to eat, but it may mean you’re unable to buy healthy things, or you don’t eat three meals a day. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re starving.”
Maine ranks first in New England in food insecurity, according to Chatalbash, and one out of four children experience food insecurity.
The psychological toll can be difficult for those facing that challenge.
“It’s really stigmatizing for people to come here and ask for food,” Chatalbash said, referring to MCHPP clients. “Certainly, in children, we’ve noticed higher levels of depression and anxiety.”
Children affected by food insecurity tend to act out more, have lower grades and require more special education, said Chatalbash.
Schools in MCHPP’s coverage area have a high rate of children who qualify for the free and reduced lunch program. In Harpswell, almost 50 percent of students qualify for free and reduced lunch, according to Chatalbash.
According to information provided by Brunswick Superintendent Paul Perzanoski in April, 64 percent of students attending Region Ten Vocational Technical High School qualify for the program. In the Brunswick School District, 32 percent of students qualified in 2013, up from 22 percent in 2007.
Children, however, aren’t the only ones who face food insecurity. Those with limited means, including the unemployed and often the elderly, regularly face hurdles in finding a secure source for food.
Brunswick resident Elizabeth Coffin lives on an $800 a month Social Security disability stipend. That money pays for her rent and a few other things, she said. She has food stamps, but “not quite enough to get me by.” So, for the past four years, she’s visited MCHPP’s food pantry.
Coffin said there is “security” in knowing there are programs that help provide nutritious, fresh food that often can’t be afforded otherwise. She said she takes her food stamps “seriously,” making sure she gets what she needs first, including fruits and vegetables.
“I can take what’s given me, and make it something great,” Coffin said, adding that she loves to cook. “For me, there’s a pleasure in taking a staple and making it better.”
jswinconeck@timesrecord.com
ACCORDING TO PREBLE STREET’S Maine Hunger Initiative, 5,000 households in Cumberland County depend on food pantries every month. Here are more figures regarding food insecurity in Maine, according to the Good Shepherd Food Bank:
• 14.9 percent of Maine households, or approximately 200,000 individuals, are food insecure.
• 18th in the nation and 1st in New England in terms of food insecurity
• 62,800 children — or one in four — are food insecure
• 5.46 percent of seniors are food insecure
• Approximately 18 percent of Mainers are using food stamps
• 36 percent of Maine’s food insecure population makes too much to qualify for food stamps
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
