Willie Mooney, a volunteer with the Winslow Community Cupboard, assists people who are receiving food Wednesday from the food truck operated by the community cupboard, at Notre Dame de Lourdes Catholic Church at 273 Water St. in Skowhegan. The Waterville City Council was told Tuesday that demand for food assistance is growing. Winslow Community Cupboard is one of the leading organizations in central Maine providing food for those in need. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
WATERVILLE — The president of the Waterville Area Soup Kitchen board of directors told the City Council on Tuesday that the number of people needing food is increasing all the time and the kitchen is serving 250 to 300 meals a day.
Carla Caron said serving so many meals would not be possible without volunteers and help from providers, such as Hannaford and the Winslow Community Cupboard.
Caron and others said the Winslow Community Cupboard provides food all around Waterville, but is struggling financially and needs immediate help. She said she thinks the problem is going to get worse, especially with winter coming. The soup kitchen, she said, is running out of cooking space and equipment.
City Councilor Claude Francke, D-Ward 6, asked if an item could be placed on the agenda for the next council meeting, scheduled for Oct. 17, so councilors could vote to fund the kitchen and Winslow cupboard.
Bendella Sironen of Skowhegan, right, selects food Wednesday from the food truck provided by the Winslow Community Cupboard, at the Notre Dame de Lourdes Catholic Church at 273 Water St. in Skowhegan. At left, the Rev. Jim Nadeau, a volunteer who assisted in providing food from the truck. The Waterville City Council was told Tuesday that demand for food assistance is growing. Winslow Community Cupboard is one of the leading organizations in central Maine providing food for those in need. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
Council Chairwoman Rebecca Green, D-Ward 4, said the city’s American Recovery Plan Act Committee has an application process for funding outside agencies. She asked kitchen and cupboard officials to apply for funding.
But others, including residents Nancy Sanford and the Rev. Maureen Ausbrook, who work closely with people facing food and housing crises, urged the city to move more quickly because the need is dire.
Councilor Flavia DeBrito, D-Ward 2, called the situation a crisis. She said she and her family eat at the soup kitchen and receive items from the food cupboard because they have just enough money to pay for rent, oil and wood.
Bruce Bottiglierie, operations manager for the Winslow Community Cupboard, said the food pantry has food trucks that go into communities, including Waterville, but it also delivers food to senior citizens at Seton Village once a month and provides food to families whose children attend Educare Central Maine, an early learning and development school in Waterville.
It also provides food to people at Head of Falls, the Evening Sandwich Program at Universalist Unitarian Church and for Northern Light Inland Hospital patients and employees.
“There is a huge need in Waterville now,” Bottiglierie said. “Ninety percent of my deliveries are in Waterville.”
Ausbrook said money to help fund the programs will go only so far, and she urged officials to consider what the city will do going forward.
“This is not going to go away,” she said.
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