Maine Food Bank Helps Feed Farmers & Community

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How can food banks work with local farmers and provide sustainability for local farms and people in need of fresh healthy foods?

Partnering with local farmers, Mainers Feeding Mainers program, part of the Good Shepard Food Bank of Maine (17.6% Latino) has started an innovative way to capture and provide fresh foods to over 37,000 people.

How do they make it happen?

The simple system and social mission to help those in need have nutritious fresh fruits and vegetables have helped the program partner with over 30 local farms throughout the state since 2010.

Over 60,000 children are suffering in Maine from food insecurity, explained Kristen Maile in the programs web page video. Maile went on to explain that it doesn’t matter what the vegetables look like, or their shape or size, just as long as local farms are willing to donate the extra produce they cannot sell to larger distributors.

Maile went on to explain that it doesn’t matter what the vegetables look like, or their shape or size, just as long as local farms are willing to donate the extra produce they cannot sell to larger distributors.

The program also helps reduce costs of transportation of produce and increases the shelf life of fresh fruits and vegetables. Maile explains that the produce goes out in three ways:

1. The produce goes to one of their 3 warehouses in the state, and pantries can come to the warehouse to pick up the produce
2. The Mobile Food Pantry drives out and visits different communities or places
3. The food pantries can pick up the produce directly from the farms

Many local farmers need sustainable business, so partnerships like these are a win-win for the food bank and the local farmers.

“Fresh produce is a luxury for many families,” said Maile, explaining how many families have come to tears over seeing and tasting the fresh produce.

To learn more about this program, click here.