A new Bangor-area nonprofit and the Maine Veterans Project plan to give 100 turkeys and more than 250 bags with nonperishable foods to veterans this Thanksgiving.
This will be the Maine Veterans Project’s fourth year hosting a food drive ahead of Thanksgiving, which has primarily focused on giving veterans and their families canned foods and other nonperishables. Last year, Not Your Average Nurses Foundation joined the effort, raising about $1,500 to buy 70 turkeys, said Alan Beatty, founder and president.
The group was not established as a nonprofit at that point, but it became one in March, he said. It focuses on “helping anyone and everyone we can,” without a focus on particular populations.
Maine has veterans living in poverty who struggle to put food on the table, and this event, the date of which has not yet been set, is designed to make their holiday season a little easier. The food drive is meant to feed Greater Bangor veterans who sacrificed their lives during their service, but nobody will be turned away, said Shawn “Doc” Goodwin, Maine Veterans Project founder.
“This year, we are eager to make this one of our cornerstone events,” said Beatty, who last year was responsible for acquiring the turkeys. “We want to go a step above this year and give out 100 turkeys, 100 pounds of bacon and 100 pounds of hamburger meat.”
Maine Veterans Project is focused on collecting nonperishable items, and it hopes to give away more than 250 bags, Goodwin said. Asa C. Adams Elementary in Orono, Cole Land Transportation Museum in Bangor and Twin City Tire & Service in Brewer, among other places, have set up collection boxes. That food will soon be picked up and sorted by volunteers, he said.
Like last year, Dennis Food Service will provide a truck to keep the meat refrigerated on distribution day. Matthew and Dayna Alley have previously donated hundreds of pounds of potatoes, and last November they took leftover food from the drive to the American Legion in Machias, Goodwin said.
Before the food drive began, Hartt Transportation Systems, a former Bangor trucking business, donated meat to the Maine Veterans Project. When Goodwin called a Maine veteran whose family was in need, the man “bawled his eyes out” because he was so thankful, he said.
Goodwin recalled that the timing was serendipitous because the family had very little food remaining. The experience inspired the food drive, he said.
“One of the biggest things I hate seeing is human suffering,” he said. “We’re not going to let someone starve. Food is just important.”
The Not Your Average Nurses Foundation is still raising money to buy turkeys and other meat from Orono IGA.
About three weeks into its fundraiser, it has raised about $800, which is quite shy of its $5,000 goal, said Beatty, who works as a nurse for the Penobscot Job Corps and as a school nurse in Greenbush. Members hope to raise a minimum of $2,400, he said.
The foundation plans to make a final push for monetary donations in the parking lot of Orono IGA on Nov. 17 and 19. It will also have a booth set up during a craft fair at the Bangor Mall on Nov. 18 and 19.
“I’m a veteran myself, and I understand that times are tough. After seeing the need last year, it seemed important to continue making this an annual thing,” Beatty said. “We hope to go bigger every year that we do this.”
The Maine Veterans Project and Not Your Average Nurses Foundation will post updates about the food drive, including the distribution date later this month, on their Facebook pages.
