First Annual Beacon of Hope Award Goes to Volunteer Regional Food Pantry

For the past year, I have had the pleasure of helping to organize Good Shepherd Food Bank’s first annual State Network Conference. From the beginning, we knew this conference would be an incredible opportunity to honor a partner agency and its staff & volunteers for the incredible work they do in their community.

This year, we were proud to present the first Beacon of Hope Award to Volunteer Regional Food Pantry in Unity, Maine!

VRFP humbly began in 1992 serving 10 families, but grew to serve hundreds of people at the former Unity firehouse building via a highly unique “drive-through” food pantry service.

Despite being 100% volunteer operated, they run numerous programs including gardening education and cooking classes, and also count on strong community partnerships with many local organizations.

The Chairperson, Bob VanDeventer, also represents a huge asset to the state hunger relief network. He is a generous donor, not only of time to VRFP, but to other local agencies. For years he’s been a leader in emergency preparedness, coordinating volunteer organizations including Good Shepherd Food Bank in times of disaster.

We are honored to have such a strong partner and leader in the State Network of emergency food providers.

Congratulations to Volunteer Regional Food Pantry and all of their volunteers!