Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program (MCHPP) will be extending the School Pantry Program through the summer. Our program, which began in 2013 and serves children and families who need grocery items over the weekend, typically ends in June, but this year it will run through August.

Sean Marlin, School Pantry Coordinator and Finance and Development Assistant at MCHPP, attributed the extension of the program to people’s loss of jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Because of the pandemic and people being out of work, we expect there to be a higher need,” he said. “So in the next two months, we anticipate to distribute these bags … at the Summer Food Service Program sites.”

During this past academic year, we ran the School Pantry Program at 30 schools, and will operate at 18 Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) this summer. Any child is eligible to receive food, and the bags are suited to feed about two people.

Although the packed food is not targeted toward adults, the program is intended to be available for the whole family.

“Even though we haven’t made food expressly for adults, it’s actually supposed to be a food resource that’s there—even if it’s not being eaten every week,” Marlin said. “If families end up in a tough week, hopefully that whole grain pasta and tomato sauce is there for them to have something.”

Marlin added that MCHPP has hit its “ceiling number” of people who are going to drive to and wait in line for the on-site pantry, and he reasoned that living in rural Maine necessitates programs like the School Pantry Program.

“[The School Pantry Program is a] resource that tries to create a scaled down version of what you would get in our food pantry,” Marlin said. “There’s no real bus system in midcoast Maine, so people basically have to drive [to MCHPP] unless they live within walking distance. So we make that up by delivering these bags of food to kids to take home to their families.”

According to Marlin, around 400 bags will be packaged by around eight volunteers every Monday in a social-distanced manner and brought to the 18 SFSP sites on Fridays by the volunteer in charge of the site.

The food purchasing budget for the School Pantry program was about $40,000 this year but we were able to adjust our budget for this summer, adding $10,000 to accommodate the program’s extension. MCHPP will continue to partner with Good Shepherd Food Bank and will be offering foods similar to what is served during the year such as fruit, canned food, and pasta.

Marlin emphasized the importance of donations and volunteers when it comes to programs such as these. He said volunteers are vital to the School Pantry program’s operations, especially when there are 400+ bags that need to be packed with food and delivered to schools or summer feeding sites.

Marlin praised the work of volunteers.

“The volunteers often know kids’ names,” Marlin said. “So as kids are passing, [they are] really engaging them rather than, you know, standing back and waiting for the kid to initiate.”

To learn more, volunteer or make a donation so that programs such as these can continue, please visit mchpp.org.

Aura Carlson is a Bowdoin Summer Fellow at Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program.