AUGUSTA — For 30 years, Augusta Food Bank got by with donations from churches and individuals, grants from the United Way of Kennebec Valley and a variety of food drives run by other organizations.

But with an increase in demand and a shortfall in the inexpensive food that Auburn’s Good Shepherd Food Bank can provide, Augusta Food Bank needed to try something else.

“This is the first major fundraiser that we’ve ever partaken in,” Executive Director Abigail Perry said at the 30th anniversary banquet on Saturday. “It’s gotten to the point where we need to branch out in our activities.”

The food bank sold 140 tickets in advance and more at the door of Le Club Calumet, with a goal of raising $5,000. Augusta Food Bank’s annual budget is $80,000.

Census figures show that 13 percent of the city’s residents use the food bank’s services, according to information posted on signs at the banquet. In the food bank’s history, demand is second only to the fall and winter of 2008.
Bernard Shaw, a farmer and former agriculture commissioner, has volunteered with the food bank since the early 1990s and served as president last year.

“We had families in need when I first started,” he said. “It probably would amount to 20 or 30 people a month. Now we’re talking about 900 people per month being fed. We’ve got to provide as much as we can for people in need.”
This year Augusta Food Bank, which also serves Manchester, provided food to 64 new households in August and 41 new households in September, representing a total of 254 people.

“We’re running above where we were last year, and what’s really scary to us is the new households,” President Nancy Haines said.

Good Shepherd Food Bank, which supplies most of the food pantries throughout the state, sells its food for 17 cents per pound.

But with donations falling and demand rising, Good Shepherd can’t provide enough food to Augusta Food Bank, which must buy what it needs at higher retail prices.

Hallowell resident Dick Dolby attended the banquet with his friend Rick Charest, who recently retired as director of the Central Maine Pre-Release Center and was recognized Saturday for arranging for inmates to work at the food bank.

Dolby said that when he was building inspector for Augusta, he frequently encountered people who struggled to get by on fixed incomes.

“It’s amazing the number of people who need that little bit of extra help,” he said. “And most people won’t ask for it.”

Susan McMillan — 621-5645
smcmillan@mainetoday.com

 

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