The TRUTH About Hunger in Maine and What YOU Can Do to Stop It.
Why is Food Being Thrown Away While People Go Hungry?
My entire life, I always have hated throwing out food. When I was growing up, my mother would tell me to finish what was on my plate because there are starving people in this world. I was one of the lucky children that always had food in front of me. In New England and Maine, we rank some of the highest in the country for child food insecurity. Children not having access to food never sat well with me. Kids should be out playing and learning, and not worrying about if they were going to get fed before and after school. Check out the link to Good Shepherd Food Bank to read a description of child hunger in New England. With 1 in 5 children in Maine experiencing food insecurity, there is much work to be done. That’s where you and I come in.
How Can YOU Make a Difference?
As I continued to think about the food waste problem and wonder how I could make a difference, I saw a Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions student internship offering students the opportunity to develop food waste solutions in Maine. One of the key food waste solutions was focused on developing a Maine community food rescue network – Food Rescue MAINE – using the Food Rescue U.S. system to successfully connect community food surplus to address community food insecurity using community volunteers, called “food rescue heroes”. This system effectively reducing food waste and feeding people in over 30 communities in the United States. I applied and was selected for this internship!
A Day in the Life of a Maine Food Rescue Volunteer:
As part of my new Mitchell Center – Maine food waste solutions internship, I wanted to be part of the solution. As a result, I signed up with Food Rescue MAINE to be a food rescuer in York County where I go to school. Here’s how it works:
- To begin, I log onto my Food Rescue MAINE account using my phone.
- Next, I check the “Food Rescues Available” section of the Food Rescue MAINE site.
- Today is Wednesday, and I am free after 2pm; I claim a food rescue that matches my available time and location – about 2 hours in the Biddeford area. The “Food Rescues Available” list the time for pick-up, location of the food pick-up, location of the food drop-off. Typically, food rescues take place within one zip code and take no more than 30 minutes to complete.
- I drive and pick-up food at the food donor location, the University of New England Dining Hall.
- I deliver the food to the feeding partner, Bon Appetit Food Pantry- or to wherever the food is needed.
- Talking with the feeding partner, I record the amount of food delivered in the “Food Donation Delivered” section of my FRM account.
- I sleep well knowing that I rescued 30 meals to feed people in Maine.
Help Build Food Rescue MAINE – Become a Maine “Food Rescue Hero”
If you would like to be part of Maine’s food waste and food insecurity solution – simply click here to sign up as a food rescue volunteer. Do you want to be a part of building the Food Rescue Maine network? If your community zip code is not yet covered you can still try signing up to become a site director! (To become a site director, you will first have to participate in and pass a background check). Click here to sign up to become a Food Rescue Maine Site Director, or call/email the Mitchell Center/Food Rescue MAINE team at (207)-581-3195 and foodrescuemaine@maine.edu. We need help from passionate individuals to fight food waste and food insecurity in Maine.
And always remember- Maine food is too good to waste.
– Ariana W., Mitchell Center Student Intern, University of New England 23’
I’m a restaurant loving, outdoor enthusiast with a passion for training dogs and a constant urge to travel the world.
