The food pantry at North Pownal United Methodist Church stopped relying on Hannaford for its food some time ago. Now, the food pantry has more food than ever to offer those who need it.

The food pantry, open Wednesdays from 9:30-10:30 a.m. at the church, 851 Lawrence Road, is actually looking for more people to feed.

“In the long run, now we have a food pantry that is doing more than it ever has,” said the Rev. Raymond St. Pierre, the church pastor. “We are actually receiving more than we are giving at the moment.”

St. Pierre said that last spring, the Hannaford store in Yarmouth, which had been supplying the pantry with its food, told the North Pownal United Methodist Church it could no longer do so unless the church affiliated itself with Good Shepherd Food Bank. But when Good Shepherd’s mission statement became nonsectarian, the church began to look elsewhere.

“We’re not criticizing Good Shepherd – they do much good,” St. Pierre said. “But that really irritated my committee. Our whole purpose at North Pownal United Methodist Church is to reach out to the greater community in the name of Jesus Christ. Some missions have dropped that stipulation.”

St. Pierre said that the Methodist Church food bank is there for everyone.

“There are no questions asked, no affiliations, nothing to fill out,” he said. “If you need something we will give it to you. We had to go to prayer on this, and we at first had to rely on our congregation, and ask them to buy a little extra when they went shopping.”

Representatives from both Hannaford and Good Shepherd said that food safety was the primary reason Hannaford required food pantries to affiliate themselves with Good Shepherd.

“Good Shepherd ensures food safety,” said Hannaford spokesman Eric Blom. “Good Shepherd also helps coordinate donations to food pantries, so there’s less waste. Good Shepherd makes sure member agencies follow good practices.”

Julie Guerette, spokeswoman for Good Shepherd, said the food bank took out the words “to do the work of Jesus, who is the Good Shepherd” from its mission statement last year because it didn’t want people to feel they couldn’t receive food for religious reasons.

St. Pierre said Good Shepherd “also required a lot of information from people coming for food, which is contrary to our mission statement,” he said. “We don’t ask people for their personal information.”

Tom Harlow, director of the food pantry, said that church donations kept it going at first. When he took the position last June, the church had decided to offer harvest and Thanksgiving baskets to people in need.

“I didn’t know where the money was coming from,” Harlow said, “but it came. We got donations from the Brunswick Farmers Market, and the Girl Scouts built a garden outside the church. We went through some tough times. We prayed. Then Deb Larrabee helped us get a $2,000 grant. Then Wayside Foods of Portland came through a few weeks ago. The Maine Warden Service will supply us with wild game. We got food from a U.S. Post Office national food drive. Things are working out.”

Those who come to the church food pantry on Wednesday mornings also receive, if they choose, some inspiration.

“I do a brief Scripture reading, with a prayer time,” St. Pierre said. “They like it. I’ve had nothing but good reviews from it. I do not focus on any particular denomination.”

And then there’s the doughnuts – Mavis Peaco’s freshly made doughnuts, with coffee, for free. Peaco, a church elder, is there bright and early every Wednesday morning to make the doughnuts.

“Mavis is a super lady,” St. Pierre said. “Many people in her age group think their work is done. Mavis still believes she has a purpose serving God. She provides the labor and the materials to make those lovely doughnuts.”

Mavis Peaco, the doughnut lady at the North Pownal United Methodist Church, fries up a fresh batch in her tried-and-true cast iron frying pan for last Wednesday’s weekly food pantry. “I’ve been making doughnuts all my life,” said Peaco, 85. Staff photos by Larry GrardThe Rev. Raymond St. Pierre, left, and Tom Harlow, director of the food pantry at the North Pownal United Methodist Church, chat as Harlow and his volunteers set up for the weekly Wednesday food pantry offering to the public.Volunteers who make the food pantry click at the North Pownal United Methodist Church are, in front from left, Mavis Peaco, Deb Larrabee, Marge Pollock, Joann Wheeler and Jean Wier. In back is Tom Harlow.The North Pownal United Methodist Church hangs out its “food pantry today” banner every Wednesday morning. Photos courtesy of Deb Larrabee