Hunger Study 2014 Survey is Complete

Thank you to the 90 food pantry and meal site partners that welcomed Hunger Study Coordinator Danielle Carr and/or Hunger Study volunteers to their sites this summer in order to complete the Hunger Study Survey.

The Hunger Study final report will be released in May 2014. While the Food Bank will receive a tremendous amount of data and reporting from this study, we will compile a booklet (4-6 pages) with the most pertinent information distilled into an easily accessible format. We anticipate that this booklet will include three main sections – information about the current state of hunger in Maine, results from the Agency survey, and results from the client survey.

The release of the 2014 Hunger Study findings will also include an online tool, developed by Feeding America, that the Food Bank will be able to use to pull state or County-level reports. This will enhance our ability to provide local partner agencies with relevant data for their general service area.

The results of the Hunger Study will be of significant value to the Food Bank and the entire network of hunger-relief agencies in Maine. We plan to use this new data to inform program decisions, strengthen our fundraising, communications, and marketing efforts and enhance our interactions with policymakers. 

Thank you for your participation! 

 

Changes to Your Agency Services Staff

Good Shepherd Food Bank’s Agency Services department has undergone some big changes in the past few weeks!  

Jeremy Hammond resigned as the Manager of Agency Services to pursue other interests.  During Jeremy’s five years at the Food Bank, he standardized the agency monitoring and renewal processes, was the driving force behind the Agency Network Conference, and was an active member of food security coalitions in all parts of the state.  We wish him the best in his next endeavor. 

Kathy Helming, formerly the Agency Services Field Rep for Southern and Western Maine, has stepped into the role of Manager of Agency Services.  Kathy is now based out of the Auburn office and can be reached at khelming@gsfb.org or (207) 782 -3554 ext. 1119. 

Heidi Lupardo remains our Agency Services Specialist, performing excellent customer service from our Auburn offices by helping agencies with orders and other concerns, as well as offering support to our Child Hunger Programs and other departments of the Food Bank.  Heidi has moved to the reception area on the second floor of the Auburn warehouse where she can assist agencies and other visitors both on the phone and face-to-face.

In early September, Heidi will be joined by a second Agency Services Specialist – we’ll keep you posted!

We have a new team of Agency Services Field Reps to act as the liaisons between our agencies and the Food Bank.  Their “fresh eyes” will help us continue to improve our relationships with agencies and other partners in our pursuit of a hunger-free Maine.  

Jen MacDonald is very excited to be joining the Good Shepherd Food Bank as the Southern Maine Agency Services Field Representative. Jen comes to us from Aetna Insurance where she was previously a Long Term Disability Manger. Additionally, Jen is experienced in Account Management, Logistics Management and has done extensive work in Customer Service. Jen will be servicing Cumberland, York, Sagadahoc and Lincoln counties.  Jen’s email address is jmacdonald@gsfb.org. 

Lori Fecteau is thrilled to join the team at Good Shepherd Food Bank as Agency Services Field Representative for Northern Maine. Lori comes from a public health and education background and most recently coordinated the SNAP Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention grant in the Bangor Region. It was through this work, which entailed providing education to people facing food insecurity, that a passion for ending hunger was realized. Prior to working in public health, Lori planned community programs for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and spent several years in higher education student services. She is very excited to meet with and learn about all the great work happening at food pantries across the state. 

When not working, Lori enjoys spending time with her fiancé at her home in Hermon, visiting her family in Southern Maine, baking, reading, and getting to the ocean as much as possible. Lori will cover Aroostook, Penobscot, Washington, Hancock, Piscataquis, Somerset and Waldo counties and can be reached at lfecteau@gsfb.org. 

Tia Harris is excited to start her new role with the Food Bank as the Agency Services Field Representative for Central Maine. She has been employed with Good Shepherd Food Bank since 2011 as receptionist/administrative assistant and volunteer coordinator. She has an extensive background in customer service and is very much looking forward to working with our partner agencies to help feed Maine’s hungry.  In addition to her work with GSFB, Tia is a student at Central Maine Community College studying graphic design/communications. Tia will be serving the central Maine counties of Kennebec, Franklin, Oxford, Androscoggin and Knox.  Tia can be reached at tharris@gsfb.org.

Jen, Lori, and Tia will be arranging visits with agencies in the different warehouses, at agency sites, at food pantry meetings and at other events where food pantry and meal site people gather!  If you have GSFB-related concerns or questions, need information or resources, or in general want to welcome them, please email or call!

New Agency Field Reps lent a hand to the Inspection and Sorting team at the Food Bank during their orientation and training.  Pictured left to right are Tia Harris (Central Maine), Lori Fecteau (Northern Maine), and Jen MacDonald (Southern Maine).

Paper Plate Campaign

As we noted in this post, September is Hunger Action Month! This is a national campaign, led by Feeding America, aimed at raising awareness about hunger in our nation.

As part of Hunger Action Month, Good Shepherd Food Bank is encouraging our partner agencies to participate in a paper plate campaign so we can deliver a powerful message to the public and to our elected officials in Augusta and Washington, D.C.

We hope to collect a plethora of paper plates with written stories about hunger, drawings, and whatever other sentiments our clients would like to share about this pervasive but solvable problem. We want lawmakers to know what people are experiencing in their communities and we also want them to know that together we can solve hunger.  

Follow the link below to find a step-by-step outline for organizing a paper plate campaign at your agency. We appreciate your participation as we compile what we hope will be a compelling visual representation of the issue of hunger in our communities.

Paper Plate Campaign Toolkit >

Biddeford Warehouse in Full Swing!

Our Biddeford warehouse opened for business on July 2nd, and our freezer and cooler have been up and running at capacity for the last 2 weeks.  Thank you for your patience during our transition!
Come see us!  We are getting deliveries from local farms through our Mainers Feeding Mainers program, and we are getting donations and restock during the week.

We open late on Monday (11am) and remain open into the evening (6pm) in order to accommodate pantries that have volunteers who work or have other commitments during the day.  Do you have a pantry on Tuesday and often have to scramble to get to our warehouse and back in time to set up?  Come on Monday instead and have a school group, scout troop or other volunteers help you set the stage for your distribution.
Watch this space and your email for an invitation to our Open House on August 28th! 

New GSFB Network Blog

We are very excited to announce the launch of "GSFB Network," a blog dedicated to meeting the information needs of our partner agencies around the state. We feel this change in our communications to partners will help offer a lot of flexibility in reaching the network and ensuring you have more up-to-date information on GSFB activities and other pertinent news relevant for ending hunger organizations in Maine.

"GSFB Network" will be updated on a regular basis with nutritional information, food recalls, updates on our distribution efforts (such as our recent move to Biddeford), data on our operations, profiles of GSFB staff, connections with other useful resources and more.

We will still offer a monthly newsletter, which will serve as an email digest of these articles, if you still prefer to get your news by email. In the future we will also provide the option of customizing the frequency of emails from us, whether you'd like to hear from us as soon as articles are posted or on a weekly or monthly basis!