Food
feeds more than just the body; it feeds the soul.
Sadly,
even in the United States of America, access to food and high-quality food
isn’t universal or equal. Poverty and food insecurity are real issues, not just
in a faraway place, but right here in our own community.
Growing
up in a household that relied on food assistance, public housing, and community
generosity shaped the rest of my life. My mom worked hard. She had a job. She
did everything she could to provide for us as a single parent, but sometimes
even that’s not enough. Looking back, I’m grateful for everything she did to
ensure that I never noticed our financial struggles, nor did I ever feel like
we were lacking anything. I still have a physical food stamp from that time in
my life as a reminder of how fragile your economic fortunes can be. It made me
appreciate having food on the table, a roof over my head, and it showed me the
real impact and importance of having a social safety net.
Food
insecurity can impact anyone at any time. Any one of us could be the one
waiting in line to access a food pantry. We are all one job loss, medical
procedure, car expense, or major life event away from the illusion of financial
well-being falling apart.
Over
1 in 5 Americans have no emergency savings, and many more lack enough to cover
even small, unexpected bills. In Maine, around 192,000 Mainers, or nearly 14%
of the state’s population, experience food insecurity. This statistic sadly
includes 1 in 5 children, which is the highest rate in New England, according
to Feeding America.
York
County’s overall individual food insecurity numbers mirror the state’s rates,
with over 26,000 people, including over 7,000 children, experiencing hunger,
according to the state’s Ending Hunger report.
This
is unacceptable. No one should go hungry, not in our community, not in Maine,
and not in our country.
Government
can and should have a role to play in meeting a basic level of need in our
community. The baseline is to ensure everyone has enough food to eat. Period.
The richest country on Earth shouldn’t have anyone go hungry. It’s a moral and
societal failure when people go without when there is plenty to go around.
As
soon as we heard that the York County Shelters Program, a standalone nonprofit
charity, was closing its regional food pantry due to financial struggles, I
knew we needed to act. The pantry, which was already housed in a county-owned
building in Alfred, was serving thousands of residents in every corner of York
County. Closure would have undoubtedly led to people going hungry due to the
lack of food pantries in rural areas or the current local food pantry resources
not keeping up with the growing need.
I
pushed to have the county be part of the solution, advocating for the county to
take over and run the food pantry. My fellow commissioners agreed, and we
stepped in within a month of hearing about potential closure. It’s not often
that you see any level of government take such urgent and deliberate action,
let alone at the county level, but we did just that.
We
first unanimously passed a measure to step in and prevent an immediate lapse in
service, allocating an initial $25,000 from the contingency fund to continue
operations. This prevented the sudden closure and gave us time for the
longer-term plan. The commission then approved $100,000 to be included in the
county’s annual budget to fund the ongoing pantry operations and to bring the
program officially under our oversight. The county budget committee barely
allowed this through, but after much debate, they approved our request.
We
have since hired a food pantry coordinator. By partnering with the Good
Shepherd Food Bank and having the county’s charitable arm, the First County
Foundation, operate the pantry, we can now accept private donations, grants,
and corporate support. Our pantry works with area grocery stores and local
businesses to minimize food waste and stock our shelves.
Our
First County Food Pantry is located near the county administration building and
around the corner from the county jail facility at 5 Swetts Bridge Road in
Alfred. Currently, it is open on Tuesdays and Fridays from Noon to 3 PM. We
also have special holiday drive-through distributions around Thanksgiving and
Christmas.
Saving
our regional food pantry is not only a reflection of our shared values, but it
also demonstrates the impact county government can have when you have the right
people leading it on the commission. You can learn more about supporting our
regional food pantry at https://yorkcountyfcf.org.
Justin
Chenette is the county commissioner for Saco, Old Orchard Beach, Hollis, and
Buxton and is a former state senator. Justin was named Maine County
Commissioner of the Month by the Spirit of America Foundation. He can be
reached at jchenette@yorkcountymaine.gov, and updates are available at
CommissionerChenette.com.
Dining and Cooking