As one of the largest emergency food
pantries in Maine, the St. Mary's Food Pantry has been providing emergency food
assistance to residents of the greater Lewiston-Auburn area for over 20 years.
Located on the corner of Bates and Walnut Streets, the Food Pantry is
conveniently located in the heart of downtown Lewiston across the street from
Kennedy Park and serves over 1,000 people per week. The emergency food
distribution provided through the Food Pantry is one key part of St. Mary’s
Nutrition Center’s broader work to increase food access in Lewiston-Auburn.
Given the extensive poverty and health challenges in our community, providing
education and increasing food access is a critical strategy for building
resiliency at an individual, family, and community level.
In 2015, St. Mary’s Food Pantry
distributed 193,172 pounds of food to 22,517 children and adults living in
L-A. Last year (2017) the numbers
increased by 389% and 170% respectively. A total of 831,415 pounds of food was
distributed to 60,817 children and adults living in L-A.
Dedicated leaders and volunteers have
contributed to the ability of the food pantry to respond to such growth and
sustain and endure over time. The original coordinator of the food pantry held
that position for more than 15 years, originally as an employee of Good
Shepherd Food Bank! The current Food Pantry Coordinator often goes above and
beyond to create a supportive and welcoming space for all guests while also
thinking through and putting into practice innovative strategies to support
people in meeting their food needs with dignity. The larger leadership team at
the Nutrition Center has acted as a backbone and has provided much needed
stability during times of transition. This team currently works closely with
the Coordinator to develop systems that are both resilient and responsive to
the changing and sometimes challenging needs of the many diverse communities of
Lewiston. The food pantry also has a
base of committed volunteers, some who have been with the pantry for nearly a
decade. In order to better support and retain volunteers, the Nutrition Center
is developing systems for orientation, evaluation, and celebration of the
people who give their time to help others meet their food needs.
The St. Mary’s Nutrition Center is
located in an old Catholic school building. While the historic and artful
architecture that includes granite entryway steps and oak paneling is
beautiful, it was not designed with the needs of a food pantry in mind. In
particular, without modern cooling systems integrated into the building, the
room where food is stored can get quite hot.
Produce that could normally keep well at room temperature would often go
bad faster and anything that was perishable would have a drastically reduced
lifespan. With a focus on nutritious food, the Pantry has greatly increased the
amount of fresh produce distributed, and these cold storage challenges have
become even more pronounced. The additional refrigerator however, has allowed
us to better store more produce and perishable items, reduce the amount of
waste, and help get us get more fresh fruit and vegetables to our pantry
guests.
Working in partnership with GSFB has made
no small difference in the types of food we are able to bring into our
community. The increase in availability
of produce through GSFB coupled with the capacity building grants we have
received for the purchase of new refrigerators has allowed us to address head
on the growing needs of our many communities
and increase the amount of fresh healthy food families our bringing home
into their household.
Lucy, a former volunteer who became a
Nutrition Center fellow and Chuck a long time and invaluable volunteer with the
Pantry