PRESQUE ISLE — According to the 2014 Hunger in Maine Report, Feeding America, more than 200,000 Mainers are food insecure, meaning they lack regular access to enough nutritious food to live a healthy life. This includes one in four children.
Based on 2014 data from Catholic Charities, up to 37 percent of Aroostook County residents rely on food pantries.
In order to facilitate the process of helping people find the food resources they need, Power of Prevention and the Aroostook County Action Program’s Healthy Aroostook developed an Aroostook County Food Resource Guide. The one-page, two-sided guide lists contact information and hours of operation for all Aroostook County food pantries, community meals/soup kitchens, summer meal programs for kids, farmers’ markets and additional programs and resources.
“The resource guide not only provides important information about food resources, it provides community members comprehensive information about accessing healthier foods,” said Kim Parent, Power of Prevention community outreach coordinator. “Many households that are food insecure lack access to healthy food. Eating unhealthy can lead to many chronic health conditions such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease and high blood pressure. These conditions can be prevented or improved by eating healthful foods.”
According to Parent and her ACAP Healthy Aroostook colleague Dawn Roberts, there has been a lot of work done over the past few years with food pantries in Aroostook County, through gleaning and other projects so that healthier foods can be offered to those who need it.
“The food resource guide will be available at local hospitals, health centers and other locations that people may seek assistance. We are also working collaboratively to have the resource guide available online,” said Roberts.
The resource guide is provided through a project called community clinical linkages. The Partnership to Improve Community Health (PICH) is engaging clinical providers to conduct regular screenings to identify people impacted by food insecurity and connecting them to food resources and a strengthened food security network. The clinical linkage project is supported through funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems and the Partnership to Improve Community Health.
To learn more about this program or to obtain copies of the Food Resource Guide, contact Parent at 540-3659 or kimparent@carymed.org or Dawn Roberts at 764-3721 or droberts@acap-me.org.
