AUBURN – The Good Shepherd Food-Bank unveiled a new “Food Mobile” Tuesday that will be used to distribute thousands of pounds of food to pantries and soup kitchens across Maine.
“We have people who are gathering food in cupboards and closets,” said Charles Large, the food bank’s executive director. “When we roll in, we’ll reach many more hungry people.”
While vans and trucks pulled into the mammoth Hotel Road warehouse Tuesday, beep-beeping as they backed into place, volunteers, donors and food bank staffers gathered around the freshly painted white truck, a retooled beer hauler donated by Federal Distributors Inc. of Lewiston.
“Six months ago, this was one of those wish-list items,” said John Paradise, governmental and public affairs manager of the Maine Credit Union League. “Now, it’s here.”
The Maine Credit Union League funded the truck’s $6,000 remodeling, giving $15,000 in all to aid the transportation initiative.
However, the truck is likely to be used lightly at first, Large said. For now, it will be driven by volunteer drivers. And it will be costly to operate – the truck gets only 8 miles per gallon.
Eventually, Large hopes to hire a full-time staffer to keep the truck on the road every day. After all, it can haul a lot of food at once.
On Tuesday, it was scheduled to make its inaugural run to the Saco Food Pantry.
Behind the six roll-top doors on both sides were bushels of apples, cases of bottled water and boxes of Raisin Bran.
Much of the food was donated by grocer Hannaford, a longtime benefactor to the food bank. On average, the supermarket chain donates 7 million pounds of food each year, an average of one trailer truck each day.
“We’re going to rely on Hannaford to fill up this truck,” Large said.
Besides driving the food to soup kitchens, pantries and shelters, numbering about 530 in Maine, Large and others hope to connect with other nonprofits who may want to feed people, too. Rotary clubs and Lions clubs may want to use the truck to help hungry people.
The success of the program will depend on donations, though.
Already, the food bank is stretched thin. When emergencies strike, much of people’s charity money goes to the event, rather than the daily operations of local groups.
“Maybe that’s how it should be,” Large said.
Since the crisis in the Gulf Coast region began, Good Shepherd has sent 289,000 pounds of food south, filling two boxcars and seven tractor-trailers.
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