AUBURN – Good Shepherd Food-Bank recently mailed invitations to nearly 700 schools throughout Maine, asking for their participation in a Hunger Awareness Bracelet Campaign to help raise funds.

The campaign is designed to be a win-win situation for kids across the state. The bright orange silicone bracelets (symbolic in color for ending hunger) sell for $3. School groups are given permission to add $1 to each bracelet to use as a fundraiser for themselves.

Launched during mid-school year 2005, the idea of an awareness bracelet was brought forth through the creative ideas of an Auburn middle-schooler Sarah Olstein. After becoming involved with Good Shepherd Food-Bank, Olstein said she was surprised to learn that the food bank does more than feed Maine’s hungry.

Good Shepherd solicits surplus food from the grocery industry and distributes it to more than 540 nonprofit agencies throughout the state.

Good Shepherd Food-Bank provided nearly 9 million pounds of food last year and feeds approximately 70,000 each month through its member agencies. Every bracelet sold can provide more than $25 in food.

For more information, contact JoAn Chartier, public relations/education coordinator, at 782-3554 or jchartier@gsfb.org.