BOWDOINHAM — Just as Bowdoinham residents and businesses came together more than a year ago to replenish and renew the town’s homegrown heating assistance program to ensure its residents stay warm, the community has united in establishment of a food pantry to make sure its residents don’t go hungry.

The new Bowdoinham Food Pantry will open its doors May 18 but first, the first food drive kicks off Saturday at 9 a.m. in the parking lot of the Long Branch School and General Store with a community fund day that includes a barbecue and entertainment.

“It’s neighbors feeding neighbors,” said Kathy Tome, a selectwoman who stresses she is only one of the volunteers who have come together to work on this community effort separate from the town government. After she became a selectman she saw a huge need for a food pantry in town and in researching this option and talking to many other community food pantries, she learned that about 45 Bowdoinham families rely on Brunswick’s food pantry alone, and “that’s a lot! And that’s people who can get there.”

More than 40 percent of students at Bowdoinham Community School qualify for free and reduced lunch this year.

Tome began reaching out to test the level of interest in town, then held a meeting in January at the Bowdoinham Community School where, “I was shocked! We had 17 people show up!”

Next it was time for the group to find a location for the fledgling food pantry, and several buildings were named as options but no long-term headquarters for a food pantry has been identified yet. That effort continues but a temporary location has been offered by the Bowdoinham Second Baptist Church and will be located in a former storage space next to the kitchen in the basement of the building, where the town’s new senior center is located. The small, temporary space will let pantry organizers get the pantry up and running and find out of it will self-sustain.

Tome said, “I didn’t want to make this so big that we couldn’t make this happen. We’re starting small,” and with non-perishable foods. “The other thing we want to do is have classes so we can teach people how to grow their own food,” Tome said. “We have so many places around here that we can have gardens.”

She added, “We don’t want people just to come here and take the food and go; we want them to be part of it,” and to either learn to grow their own food or work at the pantry one of the days it’s open, to give back. Organizers envision total community involvement.
A resident who is a nutritionist developed a list of items with healthier choices.
The Bowdoinham Food Pantry has a board, is developing bylaws and while currently not incorporated, may file for its non-profit status in the future.

The pantry hours are designed to overlap with the senior center on Thursdays and the farmers market on Saturday. The pantry, located at the Bowdoinham Second Baptist Church off Main Street (1 Church St.)  will be open Thursdays from 2 to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. No one will be turned away, Tome said: “We don’t want anybody to think that they have to come here and prove that they’re hungry.”

“The community has just been so supportive, I mean, overwhelming,” Tome said, “and it’s veterans, it’s seniors, even kids. Everybody has stepped up to help with this project. It’s just really about feeding families.”

The food drive Saturday is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Long Branch School and General Store parking lot located at 20 Main St., and features a barbecue from 11 am. to 1 p.m., and entertainment by The Long Branch Boys. Donation jars will be on hand.

The pantry is seeking nutritious, non-perishable foods such as: Meals in a can, tuna and canned meat, peanut butter, low-sugar cereals, 100 percent fruit juices, canned fruit packed in juice, canned vegetables with low salt, pasta and rice.

Boxes for food donations are set up at The Town Landing, Bowdoinham Country Store, the town office and Long Branch School and General Store. The Town Landing’s annual summer cruise-ins raffles will benefit the food pantry this summer.

In addition to the food drive Saturday, Tome urges residents to put food out on Saturday, May 11 for the National Association of Letter Carriers Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive. All food collected by carriers in Bowdoinham goes directly to the Bowdoinham Food Pantry.

Donations are welcome and can be mailed to Bowdoinham Food Pantry, P.O. Box 246, Bowdoinham, ME  04008. For more information, email bowdoinhamfoodpantry@gmail.com.