An Orono nonprofit plans to open a food cupboard later this year to address rising hunger among residents.
Orono Health Association, a nonprofit that runs the Orono Thrift Store and assists the area with other health-related needs, is in the early stages of developing plans thanks to $13,000 in grant funding. The cupboard, which will be located at 10 Birch St. in Orono, is likely to open in February or March.
Increased interest in the group’s program that feeds the school district’s students, particularly from teachers identifying children without enough to eat at home, sparked conversations about a food cupboard, said Debe Averill, president of the Orono Health Association’s board of directors. The group also donates to area churches that get regular requests for food-related assistance, she said.
A food cupboard will provide Orono with a much-needed resource as the cost of living continues to rise, particularly for those who face barriers to transportation and will have closer access to foods, said Jennifer Sonnenberg, the association’s office manager.
“People tend to think of Orono as an affluent community,” she said. “But we have low-income housing for people, homeless students, single-income families and many elderly residents. We have kids surviving on Mac & Cheese and ramen.”
In Maine, more than 144,000 people, or 10.5 percent of the population, are considered food insecure, according to 2021 data from Feeding America. Penobscot County’s rate was 11.7 percent.
Two grants, including a $9,000 one from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation and another for $5,000 from the TEGNA Foundation, will fund the cupboard’s creation.
Funds will be used to buy a lockable cabinet and nonperishable items to keep it stocked, Sonnenberg said. A nearby community garden run by volunteers could provide fresh produce in the summer.
Besides efforts from area churches and the University of Maine’s Black Bear Exchange open to students and staff, there is not a food cupboard in Orono. Many food-insecure residents visit the Caring Community Cupboard in Old Town that opened in November 2021.
Visitors to the cupboard fluctuate, but volunteers feed between 175 and 200 families each week, said Linda Bryant, the group’s president. There are 465 families from around the region signed up, including 96 from Orono, some of whom are university students.
“When we started, we were feeding from 50 to 60 families each week for a couple of months,” Bryant said about the cupboard that each Tuesday supplements a few meals for visitors. “Gradually the numbers kept going up. They have jumped more in the past year.”
Among the Orono Health Association’s projects is one that sends some of Regional School Unit 26’s students home with a backpack of food every Friday. The effort initially focused on Orono Middle School, but based on a growing need, it expanded to include high school students. Now 18 students receive one, and in most cases they feed families with more than one child.
“My goal last year was to expand the program because it felt anticlimactic,” Sonnenberg said, noting the program doubled the number of backpacks it prepared in the last year. “Kids in middle school get a backpack, but their need doesn’t disappear when they leave eighth grade.”
Sonnenberg works with two school secretaries to get the backpacks to students. They include nonperishables, plus fresh produce every other Friday, and she has started to send home recipes for simple, nutritious meals.
UMaine’s Black Bear Exchange opened in April 2009 as the first food pantry on a college campus in Maine, said Lisa Morin, coordinator of the Bodwell Center for Service and Volunteerism. It includes a pantry and clothing swap and serves primarily students, including 55 percent of whom are graduate students. Roughly 5 percent of visitors are staff members.
During the 2022-23 academic year, the exchange had 4,183 visits and served 548 people, Morin said. It averaged 450 visits per month during the academic year, and it distributed 64,000 pounds of food.
“Our numbers have increased 20-30 percent each year for the last three years, and so far this year, we are up another 15 percent,” she said about the 2023-24 academic year.
Although the Orono Health Association is still making its plans, Sonnenberg hopes the cupboard can operate three days a week, including once on the weekend. Like the thrift store, the cupboard would likely be run by volunteers.
“It doesn’t matter where a cupboard is, it’s always helpful,” Bryant said about another coming to the region. “Some people don’t have vehicles to get back and forth, so something closer to Orono citizens would be great.”