MAINE, USA — A woman from Kennebunk who has helped change the face of food insecurity in Maine is stepping down as the president of the Good Shepherd Food Bank.
Kristen Miale is wrapping up more than a decade-long stint at the nonprofit. Under her watch, Good Shepherd has nearly tripled food distribution to Mainers in need.
Over the last six years, through our outreach and the Feed Maine Telethon, NEWS CENTER Maine has helped raise more than $1.6 million towards those efforts.
It's a hub of activity inside the Good Shepherd Food Bank distribution center in Auburn. As crews load up pallets of food, employees and volunteers are busy inspecting salvaged products before they are shipped out to dozens of food pantries and other Good Shepherd partners across Maine.
Lending a helping hand is President Kristen Miale.
Miale, who has guided Maine's largest hunger relief nonprofit since 2012, is stepping down Friday. She is leaving an incredible legacy that has helped close the meal gap for hundreds of thousands of needy Mainers.
"We have alleviated the suffering of a lot of people, but there is still a lot of work for us to do," Miale said.
Under Miale's leadership, the food bank has gone from distributing nearly 11 million meals annually to 30 million meals last year. Providing food to 600 different partners from food pantries, and health care organizations to schools, colleges, and head start programs.
"Now we have over 150 school-based programs where families and kids can get food directly at their school," Miale explained.
Kristen's journey to help end hunger began after more than a decade of working in private equity and business consulting.
She founded and ran the cooking and nutrition program Cooking Matters Maine for low-income families through Good Shepherd.
That business acumen was instrumental in building up donations and a network that came through when the pandemic hit.
"97 percent of our network stayed open during COVID-19, which is one the highest rates for food banks across the country, the highest was 80 percent," Miale said.
Good Shepherd's VP of finance and administration, Bryan O'Connor, will step in as interim president on July first as a nationwide search is underway to find Miale's replacement.
"That person will have their own ideas, own perspective, and their own way of doing things that will help keep the ball moving forward in this cause," Ben Sprague, the chairman of Good Shepherd's Board of Directors, explained.
Miale says she is also proud of the fact that nutritious and more culturally relevant food is available, especially for communities of color. With no future plans just yet, the mother of two is looking at a potential new path of addressing systems of care—going beyond the root causes of hunger.
Good Shepherd is leading a quarter of a billion-dollar "Campaign to End Hunger in Maine" by 2025. For more information, click here.