No One Should Go Hungry In Maine

There is a solution to Maine's hunger problem!

For every person who is currently in need, there are even more Maine citizens and businesses who are able and willing to reach out and give them a helping hand.

Reaching Out

Since 1981, Good Shepherd Food-Bank has worked diligently to establish essential partnerships with many others concerned about ending needless hunger here in Maine.

Be it an individual, church or civic group, small business or large corporation, by partnering together we have made huge strides towards our goal. We must not stop pressing ahead however in our efforts to conquer a problem of this importance and magnitude.

Gathering millions of pounds of food each year!

Good Shepherd Food-Bank relies on its solid relationships with Maine's food industry in order to obtain millions of pounds of food each year. Additionally, we secure yet more truckloads for the state of Maine from national food donors through our affiliation with Feeding America - formerly America's Second Harvest.

Whether it's from a large food manufacturer or a local farmer donating excess produce, there are large quantities of food available, much of which would go to waste if it weren't for the Good Shepherd Food-Bank.

In all of Maine, GSFB is uniquely positioned to do the work of gathering and distributing the millions of pounds of food needed to supply hunger relief agencies throughout the state.

Just this past year, we distributed over 12 Million pounds. This food is feeding and nourishing over 107,000 of our neediest neighbors each month in every area of Maine, from Kittery to Fort Kent.

Every day we solicit, secure, collect and distribute food for more than 600 food pantries, soup kitchens and community programs throughout all 16 counties in Maine. We are constantly looking for ways to extend our reach to meet critical needs in underserved areas.

We invite you to get involved in this effort.

It is necessary that we continue working together to maintain this vital work. Much more needs to be done in order to end hunger in Maine.

We are working hard to end needless hunger in Maine

Good Shepherd Food-Bank accomplishes it's mission of Feeding Maine's Hungry through a comprehensive group of programs. Select from the following list to learn more about how this amazing food-bank partnership is getting the job done.

Food Surplus & Donated Food Acquisition

Food Mobile

Agency Match Program

Purchased Food

Feeding Maine Youth

Mainers Feeding Mainers

Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP)

The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP)

Cooking Matters to Maine

Food Surplus & Donated Food Acquisition

Our core program - acquiring surplus and donated food from food retailers, growers and distributors, as well as from community food drives. In 2010, the Food-Bank distributed 12 million pounds of food. Of this, 6.5 million pounds were acquired through the Surplus and Donated Food Acquisition program.

Food Mobile

2010 was a record breaking year for the Food Mobile program. Thanks to generous grant support, our two Food Mobiles were on the road 92 times delivering 670,000 pounds of food in response to emergency needs. This represents a 75 percent increase over the previous year. The Food Mobile’s reach extended to laid-off mill workers as far north as Ashland in January, as well as refugee communities in southern Maine during the heat of summer.

Agency Match Program

The Agency Match Program effectively doubles the power of our agencies to acquire food by matching hunger relief dollars raised by our partners within their communities. Each dollar raised translates into $16 worth of food when matched through this program. In 2010, the program resulted in 1.7 million dollars worth of additional food for our agencies to pass along to needy Maine families and individuals.

Purchased Food

Starting in 2007 we intensified our efforts to purchase food to meet our agencies’ need for more high-protein items (fish, meat, cheese, peanut butter) and fresh fruits and vegetables. We began negotiating wholesale purchases and obtaining funding to further subsidize these items. The program grows substantially each year. In 2010, over 1.5 million pounds of select food items were purchased by the Food-Bank.

Feeding Maine Youth

The Feeding Maine Youth program was developed to address childhood hunger throughout the state.

The first three sites were established within communities where childhood food insecurity rates are among the highest in the nation. Feeding Maine Youth programs also provide nutrition education and out-of-school opportunities for exercise and homework help.

Mainers Feeding Mainers

We warmly welcome Maine’s local food producers to join our work to eliminate hunger in Maine.

Mainers Feeding Mainers seeks to:

BUY LOCAL - Establish wholesale purchasing partnerships with Maine farmers, dairy operators and fishing industries to acquire fresh, locally grown and processed food for Maine’s hungry.

BUY SMART - Target purchasing of fresh vegetables and fruits, and high protein items such as cheese, fish and meat most needed to assure nutritionally balanced food especially for food insecure children and elderly.

DISTRIBUTE GOOD FOOD SAFER, QUICKER – Upgrade and maintain the Food-Bank’s capacity to acquire, inspect and store food safely for quick distribution to 600 hunger relief organizations throughout the state.

We launched Mainers Feeding Mainers to form partnerships with the people who work the land and the sea to provide food for us all. Our goal: to get fresh and nutritionally balanced Maine-harvested food to needy Maine families.

In 2010 we worked with 18 farm partners to purchase and distribute over 350,000 pounds of fresh, Maine-grown food to families in need.

Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP)

Good Shepherd Food-Bank is working with the USDA to store, pack and deliver CSFP food packages throughout the state. While these food packages do not provide a complete diet, they provide key nutrients that are typically missing from the diets of those eligible to participate in the program. Participants include low-income pregnant women, young mothers, children under the age of six and elderly individuals over 60.

The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP)

TEFAP represents a partnership between the Food-Bank and the Maine Department of Agriculture. Through this program we made commodity items such as mixed fruit, walnuts, asparagus, salmon, frozen orange juice and strawberries available to eligible agencies statewide. In 2010, we distributed 2.2 million pounds of TEFAP food to needy Mainers throughout the state.

Cooking Matters to Maine

Cooking Matters to Maine, a partnership of Good Shepherd Food-Bank and Share Our Strength® is a direct outreach program that mobilizes local culinary and nutrition professionals to teach cooking and nutrition classes to low-income people. Classes are taught at local community and family centers, food pantries, schools and transitional housing sites and provide practical, hands-on experience with food and nutrition. It can be the difference between feeding a family for one day and providing the skills and knowledge to feed a family for a life time.

Since 1993, Cooking Matters to Maine (formerly Operation Frontline) has provided low-income people at risk of hunger with hands-on cooking and nutrition classes led by volunteer professional chefs and nutritionists. Our four to six week classes are held in local community agencies and schools. Classes are free to participants and host agencies. At each class, participants receive a bag of groceries and recipes to try at home.

It's all about people... caring, helping, working together!

Volunteers are our Lifeblood

Without our volunteers, we could not handle the millions of pounds of food we distribute each year.

Our volunteers come from many different backgrounds and possess a wide range of experience and skills; however, no special skills are required to make a valuable contribution.

A great number of volunteers are needed to do the day-to-day work. Each day, approximately 25 volunteers help us do the following tasks:

Presort truckloads of products coming into the Food-Bank.

Help to inspect each item according to standards of food safety.

Sort foods into categories for agencies to select from.

Help to put labels on cans and other foods which must be labeled to fulfill labeling laws.

Keep our warehouse clean and tidy.

It's all about people... caring, helping, working together!