Leaders of Maine's food pantries don't anticipate government reopening to ease demand anytime soon

Rising need and shrinking federal aid are putting added pressure on Maine families heading into winter.

SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine — The South Portland Food Bank typically serves about 70 families each Thursday. But over the past few weeks, that number has climbed to more than 100, a shift Executive Director Dwayne Hopkins says reflects growing need across the community.

“This is not unique,” he said. “What we are seeing is happening all across the United States of America.”

Even with the federal government back open and SNAP funding secured through next September, leaders at the pantry say the pressure on families isn’t going away anytime soon.

“Because people are behind right now,” he said, pointing to the inflated cost of living and coming heating bills. “It takes a while to rebuild that.”

Hopkins says it will be much longer than a few weeks, “I’m anticipating it to be at least three months.”

The increased need comes after federal support was reduced earlier this year. In March, under the Trump administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut its food supply to Good Shepherd Food Bank in half for three months. It also eliminated $1.2 million in annual funding Good Shepherd uses to purchase produce from local farms.

In October, the start of the new federal budget, President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, led to more than 50,000 Mainers seeing their SNAP benefits reduced or eliminated.

“It’s a twofold impact: need is going up and federal funding is going down,” said Good Shepherd President Heather Paquette.

Paquette says October brought the highest food demand on record, forcing Good Shepherd to send out its federally supplied reserves early to meet the need.

“That means we will have less food to distribute this month and the two months after that,” she said.

Paquette says Good Shepherd is now in recovery mode, assessing what pantries across the state will need in the coming winter months.

“That does not go away with the federal government reopening,” she said.

As temperatures drop, local food pantries are urging community members to pitch in however they can.

“Give what you can, when you can,” Hopkins said.

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