Features inside, outside and on top of the two renovated buildings at the Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program in Brunswick will make it easier to serve individuals and families of Brunswick.

Ethan Minton, MCHPP program director, said the building’s layout and the ability of people to select the food items they want and need, just like a grocery store, makes life easier.

“The fewer barriers you put up, the more folks will access what they need,” said Minton. “The new space makes the whole experience a little more comfortable.”

There is a separate walk in freezer and walk-in refrigerator for food storage and preservation. The 10- by-20- foot freezer and 10-by-10-foot refrigerator were set up panel by panel in a recessed wall that projects outward. This saves floor space, MCHPP Executive Director Karen Parker said.

Solar panels on top of both buildings’ roofs are designed to reduce heating and cooling costs. ReVision Energy installed the panels.

Reconfigured office space within the larger building is better suited to an agency, making it a flexible work space. All programs and services by MCHPP continued throughout renovation, Parker said.

Despite Maine’s agricultural heritage, some of its youngest residents go hungry. Government records show that 16.2 percent of Maine households are food insecure. That percentage of food insecurity boils down to more than 208,000 people across the state. Nationally, Maine ranks 12th of all states where a person may not have enough to eat or resources to buy food. Nearly 1 in every 4 children goes to bed or to school hungry.

Assistant Superintendent of Brunswick School District Pender Makin said a student’s hunger affects his or her ability to focus on school lessons. In the school district, 40 children are experiencing homelessness in addition to hunger.

A backpack program provides non-perishable food for a student, especially a homeless student, to bring home over the weekend.

“Hunger doesn’t take the weekend off,” Makin said.

Speaking during the MCHPP’s grand reopening last week, Brunswick resident Mary Herman, principal of Mary J. Herman Consulting, made a pitch for a refrigerated truck that the agency needs. Perhaps someone may know of a company who has an extra refrigerated truck to donate or sell, she suggested.

To learn more about MCHPP, whether to volunteer or ask for help, go online to mchpp.org.

lconnell@timesrecord.com