HAMPDEN, Maine — United Way chapters around Maine are kicking off their annual fundraising campaigns this week with drive-thru food drives and other events — in a time, perhaps, when this service is needed more than ever.
The United Way of Eastern Maine is hosting its drive-thru food drive on September 18 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Good Shepherd Food Bank in Hampden. Staff members say anyone can donate, and the best items to give include peanut butter, tuna fish, cereal, and canned fruits and vegetables — the healthier, the better.
Anyone can donate, and doing so is easy. You can just load up your car with the food you want to donate, drive up to the facility, and UWEM will take your donations from your car on-site — you don't even need to get out. The people working there will be social distancing and wearing masks and gloves to keep everyone safe.
The food donated will go directly to local food pantries. These drives are also designed to raise awareness about basic need and food insecurity and the work the United Way does in Maine — and get the community involved. Staff members say they've seen a much greater need from more people during the coronavirus pandemic, with a requests coming in from non-profits for increased funding.
"What we've noticed since the pandemic started is that many people are finding themselves needing to access food when they didn't before," Shirar Patterson, the president and CEO of UWEM, told NEWS CENTER Maine via Zoom. "There are certain things where you might need to go to a doctor's office or something, and you can get a bill for that — but when you need to go pick up groceries at the store, you need to actually have the funds available to be able to get those."
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One of the groups UWEM helps is Helping Hands with Heart in Piscataquis County, a community collaborative that coordinates resources coming into the community and advocates for the region. It's made up of about 65 to 70 members.
HHH co-chair Sue Mackay Andrews says the county deals with a number of issues, like access to broadband, health care, and transportation. The county also ranks highest in Maine for food insecurity among children. Andrews says the coronavirus pandemic has made those disparities even more apparent. Last Friday, the Dover-Foxcroft Food Pantry served more than 170 households, compared to an average of 90 households before COVID-19. When the shutdown began in early March, the Eastern Area Agency on Aging was apparently delivering about 1,000 meals in the region every month. Now, that number is up to 7,500 per month.
Andrews says Piscataquis County is a "frontier county", with very few people for such a large geographic area, and multi-generational poverty is longstanding. It's why support from the United Way of Eastern Maine means so much to her and the HHH team, helping them with prevention campaign funds, advertising in newspapers for resources, and the purchasing of mask materials during COVID-19.
"I just am always amazed at the energy of the United Way people and their vision and their willingness to listen to us — and to understand that the cultures in Piscataquis are very different than Penobscot and other counties, but to honor our voices and the voices of the families who live here as the experts about being here," Andrews explained to NEWS CENTER Maine via Zoom.
UWEM works with a number of different nonprofits in its five county area to address basic needs, substance use disorder, and early childhood development. Patterson says anyone in need of help shouldn't hesitate to reach out. To find out what resources are available, you can call 2-1-1, a phone line that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
There are nine United Way chapters in the state. Last year, UWEM had more than 5,000 hours of volunteer service alone. Click here to learn about food drives and events happening this week around Maine.