In what she described as a “warm and wonderful weekend” spent outdoors, Sue Mack, Freeport Community Services coordinator, and 15 volunteers helped to raise $12,000 for the Freeport/Pownal food pantry and the Carole Kaplan heating fund.

The annual fundraiser, known as the Freeze Out, kicked off at 10 a.m. on Saturday at the First Parish Church on Main Street and continued for the next 24 hours. Mack maintained her post outside the church for the duration to accept cash and food donations.

“It was an awesome time,” said Mack. “It’s such a remarkable community.”

In addition to the cash, 800 pounds of groceries were dropped off to help stock the shelves of the food pantry.

“The $12,000 in cash donations and the 800 pounds of food are both records,” said Mack. “We needed this to keep the pantry stocked and to keep up with the demands for heating vouchers.”

The demand is underscored by a drop in federal funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, which saw funding drop from $54 million in 2011 to $38 million this year. According to Keep Me Warm, an organization that provides emergency heating assistance through a statewide partnership of Maine’s United Ways and Community Action agencies, changes in federal eligibility guidelines have left more than 4,000 previously eligible households out in the cold. Keep Me Warm has seen denial rates close to 20 percent, which is twice the typical rate in the winter.

The Carole Kaplan fuel fund is administered by Freeport Community Services and provides $200 vouchers used to purchase heating oil. Even with the assistance, Mack said, many people still have to choose between staying warm or not staying hungry. In the nine years since the Freeze Out started, three times as many people are relying on the Freeport/Pownal food pantry to make it through the week.

The $12,000 in donated cash will be split evenly between the pantry and heating fund.

“It was a group effort and I have to thank all the volunteers who helped,” Mack said on Monday after a few hours of much-needed sleep. “We always need more donations but this was a great success. It touches so many lives.”