2011 was an outstanding year for Good Shepherd Food Bank’s Food Mobile Program! Our two Food Mobiles hit the road a total of 94 times delivering over 600,000 lbs of food, and setting a new record for number of deliveries in one year.
Thanks to Mainers Feeding Mainers, the Food Bank’s partnership with local farmers, the quality of food increased as we included more fresh Maine-grown produce. Another highlight – for the first time, we were able to deliver emergency food to communities in every Maine county.
In addition to an increase in deliveries and an upgrade in quality of food, we also began piloting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Outreach at a number of our distributions. SNAP, otherwise known as food stamps, helps low-income people and families buy the food they need to live a healthy life. By connecting families at our Food Mobile distributions with resources and education about this important safety net program, we hope to help increase family food security on a more permanent, sustainable basis.
In 2012, our goal is to use our two food mobiles for a benchmark 100 distributions. We plan to reach every county in the state and utilize the mobile pantry system to increase the amount of food we distribute to Maine’s most rural, remote, and underserved communities. We’re off to a good start, with over 30 trips scheduled across the state already!
Learn more about the Food Mobile program >
Good Shepherd Food Bank staff and partner agency volunteers
setting up for a Food Mobile distribution, summer 2011.