Students pack, donate 52,920 meals during Maine Day Meal Packout
University of Maine students and other volunteers packed 52,920 meals to donate to people experiencing food insecurity for the Maine Day Meal Packout on April 30 at the Memorial Gym.
The Maine Day Meal Packout is organized by Honors College staff and the Honors College Student Activities Board, as well as an event coordination team made up of students. Over 500 volunteers, including students, registered to participate in this year’s event.
Honors College students raised over $19,400 to purchase the meals. They will be given to over two dozen food banks and pantries that serve food insecure counties in Maine, including Penobscot, Piscataquis, Waldo and Washington counties. Thanks to dozens of donors and a partnership with End Hunger New England, each meal cost just $0.37 to pack.
Honors College students have been packing meals for people in need for more than a decade and have now donated over 725,000. UMaine is one of the top 10 donators of all organizations/institutions that have packed meals in partnership with Outreach New England.
In addition to the Honors College, this year’s donors include the Old Town Rotary Club; Bangor Breakfast Rotary Club; Pepsi; the Wilson Center; the Maine Credit Union League; the Rock and Art Shop; Harvest Moon; Chimera Coffee; Black Bear Cinemas; Stonewall Kitchen; Mainely Succulents; Tootsie Poosle Card Company; University of Maine Student Government Inc.; the Office of the President; Student Life; the Office of the Provost; the University of Maine Foundation; the University of Maine Alumni Association; UMaine Dining; the Graduate School; University of Maine Libraries; University of Maine Cooperative Extension; The College of Earth, Life, and Health Sciences; the Maine College of Engineering and Computing; the Maine Business School; the University of Maine at Machias; University Promotions; UMaine Athletics; the University of Maine Press; and many individual contributors.