ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine's annual "Maine Day" is all about cleaning up campus, community service projects, and a little fun to celebrate another school year coming to a close. Maine Day typically falls during the last week of classes each spring.
The annual event was started in 1935 by Arthur Hauck, the president of UMaine at the time, according to the university. It started as a spring clean-up day for the entire UMaine community, and has since grown into a day of giving back to those who need it most across the state.
Along with a parade, clean-up projects, lawn games, and a barbecue, students, faculty, staff, and coaches volunteered in the Memorial Gym on Wednesday to help pack more than 50,000 meals to be donated to food banks across Maine.
The Maine Day Meal Packout was organized by a group of students in the Honors College. Ellen Weinauer is the dean of the Honors College.
"It's about giving back to the community, it's about feeding hungry Mainers and addressing the issue of food insecurity, and it's about coming together as a community to assist in the public good," Weinauer said.
Weinauer said students from different sports teams and organizations showed up to help out Wednesday.
"The hockey team came in, the football players are here, fraternities, sororities, and honor societies, university administrators, the president was here, the provost," Weinauer said.
Matthew Martin works for the organization Ending Hunger in New England, which used the donations UMaine collected to provide the food that was packed up and distributed Wednesday.
"The epicenter for hunger in America is Mississippi/Louisiana," Martin said. "The epicenter for hunger in New England is where we're standing right now."
According to Good Shepherd Food Bank, Feeding America estimated 182,000 would experience hunger last year, compared to roughly 167,000 two years before. Projections show Somerset County has the highest rate of overall food insecurity and child food insecurity in Maine. It also has the second highest rate by county in the entire northeast.
Shymell Davis, student-athlete at UMaine, said beyond giving back, Maine Day is a way to bring all members of the community together.
"It's a chance for all of us to also get to know each other, meet new people, see new things," David said. "You get to develop a bond to the University of Maine so I like that too."
Wednesday also coincided with Maine Day of Giving, a 24-hour fundraising effort for the university.