Food deluges soup kitchen
AmeriCorps team collects donations for area's needy
Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
AUGUSTA — Plastic bags of food covered the floor, table and chairs at the Bread of Life Ministries soup kitchen on Water Street on Wednesday.
John Applin, executive director of Bread of Life Ministries, wades through piles of food that were dropped off unexpectedly Wednesday at the charitable organizationšs soup kitchen on Water Street in Augusta. click to enlarge
The food windfall was the result of a collection drive by 10 members of AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps who were in the area for a couple of months.
In all, more than 1,000 pounds of food was donated by Augusta area residents.
"I was just stunned," said John Applin, executive director of the Bread of Life Ministries. He said he received a call from somebody asking where to drop off the food.
"While I was out, apparently they showed up and dropped off 100 to 120 bags of food," Applin said. The bags had tags saying they were from a Fall Harvest food drive to feed the hungry in Maine.
"Some of it immediately will go up to the shelter," he said. "We area bursting at the seams and never have enough food." Five families are staying at the shelter on Hospital Street.
"We'll put the rest in our storeroom to serve to people in the kitchen," Applin said.
The food was weighed at the Augusta home of Bob Moore, executive director of the Friends of the Cobbossee Watershed.
"They borrowed our bathroom scale," Moore said. One person got weighed and then picked up the bags to calculate the weight of the food. "It was a kind of goofy way to do it," he said with a laugh.
The AmeriCorps workers have been doing watershed improvement projects for the past several months. The team of 11 volunteers helped protect almost 4,500 feet of shoreline, installed more than 713 tons of riprap and 150 yards of mulch and planted more than 540 shrubs, Moore said.
"In addition to doing service for Friends of Cobbossee Watershed, they had to do a community service project unrelated to the sponsor," Moore said.
Hannaford Bros. and Rite-Aid donated 1,400 bags for the food drive. Moore said the community was generous. "It was a great outpouring," he said.
The group was to be feted in Manchester on Wednesday night and plans to leave the area today.
The AmeriCorps team supported various projects of the Friends, including slowing runoff into lakes and ponds, staffing a pontoon boat that offered educational materials to homeowners on the waterways, and acting as "Mil-Foilers" — courtesy boat inspectors to help prevent the spread of invasive milfoil.
The AmeriCorps volunteers came from Florida, Wisconsin and other states. They arrived in Maine on July 8.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
badams@centralmaine.com