Hallowell Food Pantry volunteer Sue Wallace, left, and new manager Julie Howell chat Wednesday as they restock shelves at the Hallowell Food Pantry, located in the basement of the old firehouse in Hallowell. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

HALLOWELL — Following the retirement of its pandemic-era manager, the Hallowell Food Pantry announced the hiring of its new leader, Julie Howell, earlier this month.

Howell, who moved to Hallowell last year, took over for Vicky Gabrion, who joined the food pantry just before the COVID-19 pandemic began and retired this month. Gabrion stayed around in a transitional role for several weeks while Howell was learning the ropes — and Howell said she was immensely helpful.

“(Gabrion) really did create the system that we have right now,” Howell said. “It’s one that, someone mentioned the other day, it’s the sign of a good manager that you can leave and someone can look in the binder to find out what they need to do. It’s not that she left with all of the institutional knowledge.”

Hallowell Food Pantry’s new manager, Julie Howell, restocks shelves Wednesday at the food pantry, located in the basement of the old firehouse in Hallowell. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Howell, like Gabrion, has worked in schools: Gabrion worked as a school nurse in Readfield and Howell worked as a teacher in southern Maine. She said her teaching skills are largely transferable to her new position, as both jobs are based on relationship-building, organization and readiness to answer questions from the pantry’s dozens of volunteers.

Hallowell Food Pantry President Rick Cote said Gabrion’s system helped keep the pantry organized during a 30% increase in households served in each of the past two years, bringing the total number of Hallowell-area households served weekly from about 30 to about 45. The pantry now distributes more than 80,000 pounds of food and conducts almost 2,500 household delivery visits per year.

Cote said the increases in new households have stabilized, but that fundraising has had to ramp up to keep up with food costs. Much of the nonprofit’s funds come from residents and businesses, and the pantry also benefits from grants and donations from community partners like Kennebec Savings Bank, Hannaford and the Viles Foundation.

According to the food bank network Feeding America, almost 17,000 people in Kennebec County — or about 13.6% of the county’s population — were food insecure in 2022, the most recent year for which data was available. About 180,000 people across the state were food insecure in 2022, defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a lack of consistent “access to enough food for an active, healthy life.”

In 2021, those figures at both the state and county level were significantly lower. About 11% of Kennebec County, or 13,500 people, were food insecure that year, and about 144,300 Mainers were food insecure.

With food prices increasing 25% from 2019 to 2023, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Cote said older people with fixed incomes are often most in need of additional food assistance. Feeding America estimates 7 million seniors across the country are food insecure.

In response to the increased demand, Gabrion implemented a weekly seniors-only hour in the pantry, which Howell said she will continue. Not only is it a time for those seniors to “shop” for cost-free food, she said it’s also an opportunity for much-needed socialization.

“We have a lot of people right next to us here at the cotton mill that are on fixed incomes,” Cote said. “For them, it’s huge.”

The pantry is open for seniors from 10-11 a.m. on Fridays and for all ages from 1-2 p.m. First-time visitors are required to show proof of residency before entering.