Bishop Robert P. Deeley visits Caribou to showcase relief programs
CARIBOU, Maine — In celebration of the Year of Mercy, Bishop Robert P. Deeley traveled to Caribou recently to showcase two programs which are helping to feed the hungry of Aroostook County.
At the parish hall facility at Holy Rosary Church, Bishop Deeley put the finishing touches on fiddlehead soup as a way to celebrate the success of the “Power of Green,” a nutrition program offered last year at St. Mary of the Visitation Parish in Houlton. Funded by a grant from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the course educated people about basic nutrition and taught them how to cook healthy meals.
Deacon Al Burleigh, who serves at the parish and as a Catholic Charities parish social ministry coordinator, says unfortunately, many people have come to rely on unhealthy processed food, so the program was started to help break that cycle.
“We looked at what was fresh each month, and we took that theme and ran with it,” he said. “We had all kinds of colored themes.”
Burleigh said fiddlehead soup, which can actually be made with many other types of greens, became one of his favorite recipes, which is why he chose it for the bishop’s visit.
Power of Green lived up to its name. It was so popular that the UMaine Cooperative Extension Service, which led the classes, offered both morning and evening sessions. The program will start up again in May under the name “Lunch and Learn,” because this year, attendees will actually be doing the cooking.
After enjoying fiddlehead soup in Caribou, the bishop and others headed to the nearby Catholic Charities Food Bank, which is the hub of efforts to feed the hungry of Aroostook County. The food bank supplies 24 food pantries around the County and served 23,000 people last year.
“This is an incredible undertaking, which truly is offering mercy. It is the love of God’s people that makes this possible — alleviating the misery created by food insecurity for all the people here in the County,” the bishop said. “It’s a real blessing and a wonderful example for the whole Church.”
Shaw said many of those served by the food bank are elderly, who have come to realize that their Social Security checks don’t pay all the bills. “We are 100 percent committed to feeding folks. That’s what we do,” said Dixie Shaw, director of hunger and relief services for Catholic Charities Maine.
“They’re on limited incomes, and there is not a lot of money for anything else, and the one place people can cut back is food. You can’t cut back on your heat. You can’t cut back on your lights. You can’t cut back on your medication,” she said.
Shaw added that many seniors also have an unexpected, additional financial burden because they have become the primary caregivers for grandchildren, whose parents are struggling with substance abuse, a significant problem in Aroostook County, as it is elsewhere in Maine.
“What we’re seeing at the food pantry is a lot of grandparents and even great-grandparents coming in with young children,” she said.
The Catholic Charities Food Bank has two food warehouses: one in Caribou, which serves most of the pantries, and one in Monticello, which serves southern Aroostook County. It also operates three thrift stores, with the profits going exclusively to support the food bank. There is also a recycling project and the Farm for ME project, which produces fresh vegetables, most of which are flash frozen so that they can be distributed in the winter months.
“Here is a package of broccoli that we have,” Shaw said, showing the package to the bishop and others. “This is from last summer, and we still have it. We don’t need stuff so desperately when everything is growing. We need stuff now. There is nothing out there growing yet.”
While food donations are always appreciated, Shaw said dollars actually make the best contribution because, through its partnership with the Good Shepherd Food Bank in Auburn, it can buy food at a fraction of the prices found in supermarkets and big box stores.
For more information, visit ccmaine.org/donate.
