UMaine community members to help pack 40,000 meals for local food pantries

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr., members of the University of Maine community will pack an estimated 40,000 meals for distribution to local food pantries on Jan. 21.

The project is a partnership among the UMaine Bodwell Center for Service and Volunteerism, Honors College and Office of Multicultural Student Life, as well as the University of Maine at Augusta Bangor campus and Eastern Maine Community College (EMCC).

The university recently was awarded a $3,000 grant from Iowa Campus Compact (IACC) and a $500 grant from the Maine Hunger Dialogue to aid the MLK Day of Service Community Partnership Project.

The program aims to mobilize college students, community members and organizations to observe MLK Day not as a “day off,” but a “day on,” according to an IACC news release.

This is the second year UMaine has led the initiative. Last year, with the help of a $1,800 IACC grant, about 120 volunteers gathered in Old Town to pack 23,520 meals.

This year, about 170 volunteers, including students, staff, faculty and community members, are needed to pack and distribute the meals from 9 a.m. to noon at the Johnston Gym & Fitness Center on the EMCC campus in Bangor. Volunteers can register online.

End Hunger NE, the New England regional office for Outreach, Inc., will provide ingredients and equipment. The organization also helps with UMaine packing events during Welcome Weekend.

“Hunger is an issue that impacts our students as well as our communities,” says Lisa Morin, coordinator of the Bodwell Center. “Last year students worked side-by-side with community members to feed thousands of people.  It was an amazing experience for all involved. This year we will bring another campus and more community members together to feed thousands of people during the post-holiday season, which typically is hard for food pantries.”

IACC awarded the 2016–17 grants to 40 colleges and universities across the U.S. to provide funding for service projects that work toward alleviating hunger and supporting veterans.

Last year, the program recruited 39,281 volunteers throughout the country. 10,175 veterans were served and 189,276 pounds of food were distributed to Americans in need, the IACC release states.

“Iowa Campus Compact is excited and thrilled to fund these MLK Day of Service projects that value civic learning on the same level as community impact,” says Justin Ellis, assistant director of IACC and manager of the MLK Day of Service grants.

IACC, a statewide association of college and university presidents providing leadership for the civic mission of higher education, was awarded a federal grant to manage the MLK Day Community Partnership Project in 2015. The projects are funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service and supported by four other state Campus Compact partners.

UMaine, the only institution in the state to receive the grant, belongs to Maine Campus Compact, a coalition of 18 member campuses, whose goal is to catalyze and lead a movement to reinvigorate the public purposes and civic mission of higher education.

More information about the MLK Day of Service projects and grants is online.

Donations for the UMaine event can be made through the Bodwell Center.

Contact: Elyse Catalina, 207.581.3747