BAR HARBOR

Bar Harbor Bankshares, which has a bank branch in Topsham, concluded their annual “Food for Good” community food drive in November. This year the event took place in Maine at 14 bank branches, as well as in New Hampshire and Vermont at 35 branches of Lake Sunapee Bank, a division of Bar Harbor Bank & Trust.

More than 6,400 food items and $5,900 were collected and delivered to local food pantries prior to the Thanksgiving holiday.

“On behalf of the bank, I would like to thank everyone who gave a gift of healthy food to our neighbors in need by donating to the food drive,” said Margie Gray, of Bar Harbor Bank & Trust. “These gifts helped fill Thanksgiving food baskets and stocked the shelves of local food pantries for the winter months ahead.”

The food drive was promoted on both the Bar Harbor Bank & Trust and Lake Sunapee Bank Facebook pages. For each “share” of one of the bank’s “Food for Good” Facebook posts, the bank donated one dollar to a local food pantry. This led to an additional gift of more than $250 to local food pantries.

A competition was also held among all bank branches for the largest collection amount; prizes for winning locations were additional gifts to their local food pantry. The first place winner was Bradford, New Hampshire, with a $500 gift to the Bradford Food Pantry. The second place winner was Topsham, Maine, with a $250 gift to the Mid-Coast Hunger Prevention Program. The third place winner was Main Street, Nashua, New Hampshire, with a $100 gift to the Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter.

“Our gratitude goes out to everyone who donated so generously to our ‘Food for Good’ community food drive,” said Gray. “Thank you for helping neighbors in need by providing them with good, healthy food.”

Topsham total

• THE SECOND PLACE WINNER was Topsham, Maine, with a $250 gift to the Mid-Coast Hunger Prevention Program.