The 12th annual Maine Credit Unions’ Ending Hunger Walking Tour recently made stops in nine Aroostook County communities.
Brenda Davis, one of the state’s leading ending hunger advocates, has been partnering with Maine’s credit unions to coordinate the Ending Hunger walking tour for the past 12 years. Despite wet snow on some parts of the route, Davis and the Tour continued undaunted. “Hunger doesn’t stop for bad weather; the Tour won’t either,” Davis stated.
The purpose of the event is to raise awareness and distribute some of the statewide funds raised by the Maine Credit Unions’ Campaign for Ending Hunger. In 2011, the Campaign for Ending Hunger raised a record-setting $471,000 and has raised more than $4.8 million since 1990.
In Aroostook County, tour participants stopped in Caribou, Fort Fairfield, Fort Kent, Houlton, Madawaska, Presque Isle, St. Agatha, St. Francis and Van Buren. Checks were presented to a food pantry at each stop. Each check purchases approximately $1,500 in food through the Good Shepherd Food Bank.
Food pantries receiving a contribution include: Goodwill Pantry in Caribou; Friends Helping Friends in Fort Fairfield; Greater Fort Kent Ecumenical Food Pantry in Fort Kent; St. Mary’s Food Pantry in Houlton; St. Thomas Aquinas/St. David Food Pantry in Madawaska; Aroostook Band of MicMacs Social Services Food Pantry in Presque Isle; St. Joseph Food Pantry in Sinclair; St. Charles Food Pantry in St. Francis; and St. Peter-Chanel Parish Food Pantry in Van Buren.
This year’s tour will be visiting the most communities, and covering the most miles in its history. The walk is expected to encompass more than 1,500 miles, with approximately 750 of that on foot, and visit a record-setting 77 communities from Kittery to Madawaska. The Walk will conclude with a ceremony at Bangor FCU in Bangor on Dec. 4.
