ALFRED – As volunteers at the York County Shelter Programs’ food pantry sort cans of soup and peaches, boxes of macaroni and cheese and bags of rice for residents to pick up, there is one thing on their minds.
How will the pantry continue to feed the growing number of hungry people, now that it has lost a huge chunk of funding?
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The York County commissioners recently voted not to fund the pantry this year, which meant a $30,000 loss for the program. Joan Sylvester, community relations director and volunteer coordinator for York County Shelter Programs, said the decision concerns organizers of pantry operations.
The $30,000 represents about half of the food program’s core funding, not including donations and fundraising. Sylvester said the program gets nearly $11,000 from the United Way, and a total of $20,000 from several cities and towns.
The county has supported the food pantry for nearly 20 years, giving $30,000 annually in recent years. Sylvester said the money helped cover the cost of heating, lights and fuel for food pickups throughout the state, as well as insurance for operating and a core staff.
“It was a guaranteed source of money to provide for the infrastructure” of the program, she said.
Daily operations in the pantry are handled mainly by regular volunteers like Ki Emard, a retired Alfred resident. Even if he receives one smile from someone who needs food during the 20 hours he volunteers at the pantry, Emard said, it’s a “quiet reward.”
When he started volunteering four years ago, the pantry would hand out food to 25 people on a busy day, Emard said. In recent weeks, he said, it has served 75 people daily, people who typically have two or three others to feed.
Dick and Carol Ogden, a retired couple from Shapleigh, said they started volunteering two years ago as a way to give back. They drive to Auburn on Thursdays to pick up food from the Good Shepherd Food-Bank, the primary source to stock the shelves at the pantry. While much of the food they pick up is free, some of it — usually meat — costs 16 cents a pound. The Ogdens said they were disheartened to hear about the county’s funding cut.
“I think, in general, elected officials need to be more compassionate toward the needy,” Dick Ogden said. “I recognize the cuts they’ve got to make, but the priority has to be toward the hungry and homeless.”
Rick Small, executive director of the Good Shepherd Food-Bank, agreed. In recent years, he has seen more people in need of food and less money available to provide it.
“More Mainers will be in worse shape if they can’t get food,” he said. “There is no reason why people can’t have food.”
Maine is ranked among the 10 hungriest states, Small said. The Good Shepherd Food-Bank provides food to more than 650 locations statewide.
As the economy drives more people to the food pantry, York County Commissioner Dan Cabral said it is also forcing county officials to take a hard look at the county budget.
Last year, the county faced layoffs. This year, despite recommendations by the budget committee to fund the pantry, he said, the commissioners decided to cut funding for outside organizations. He said the county gets most of its funding from towns, and they should fund the pantry at that level.
“It should be more on the municipalities,” he said.
Sylvester said the pantry received nearly $1 million worth of food donations in the past year and small amounts of monetary donations.
It is the program’s hope to increase donations to offset the loss of county funding.
Sylvester said the fourth Helping Homeless Families and Children 5K run and walk in May and an apple festival this fall are being organized to raise funds.
The program also mailed 1,200 postcards, funded by a private donation, to make people in York County aware of the commissioners’ decision. The postcard features a photograph of people waiting in line just outside the food pantry.
“It’s feast or famine,” Emard said, “but the famine seems to come more often nowadays.”
Staff Writer Emma Bouthillette can be contacted at 791-6325 or at:
ebouthillette@pressherald.com
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