WABI reports on Downeast Gleaning Initiative
Regina Grabrovac, Healthy Acadia’s food programs manager in Washington County, visited the studio of WABI (Channel 5) to discuss the Downeast Gleaning Initiative, a partnership between Healthy Acadia and University of Maine Cooperative Extension. The initiative works to address food insecurity by coordinating gleaning opportunities throughout Hancock and Washington counties, connecting volunteers with farms, orchards, farmers markets, and other food producers and vendors to collect food that would otherwise go to waste, WABI reported. The program then manages distribution of the collected food to community meal sites. Since 2010, the Downeast Gleaning Initiative has collected and redistributed more than 80,000 pounds of food, the report states.