FARMINGTON – The second annual Maurer Meals will be held Saturday, Oct. 14, at nine area restaurants in eight Western Maine communities.

For Maurer Meals, restaurants will offer a menu of alternative specials using locally grown foods focusing on organic and all natural foods. For one night, the businesses will raise money for the Justin A. Maurer Memorial Scholarship Fund and support local agriculture.

The scholarship is for a third- or fourth-year University of Maine at Farmington student in the Community Health Program. Maurer died in a motorcycle accident last year shortly after graduating.

“He had become such a supporter of the small farm in Maine, and the whole approach of producing food without poisoning the earth and preparing and eating it without poisoning the body,” said his father, Gary Maurer of Leeds. “We thought that this might be a good way to carry on his beliefs and honor his legacy.”

Justin’s senior project involved working with three other students to develop and publicize a series of raised bed organic demonstration gardens built next to the campus.

His self-designed internship at the biodynamic Fare Share Farm and Bakery in Canton exposed him to many new things, including helping to develop farmer’s markets in Dixfield and Mexico. He felt it was important to make healthy food choices as available to people as the popular and unhealthy choices.

Building on Justin’s vision, his father has developed a regional collaboration of restaurateurs and community organizations to encourage local businesses to offer healthy menu choices prepared from locally grown foods, to heighten awareness of health through personal food choice, and to bring vitality to local agriculture.

“The Boiler Room in Wilton and Davinci’s in Lewiston were former employers of Justin,” Maurer said, “and they were eager to help perpetuate his memory and raise money for his scholarship. Rick Mealey of the Boiler Room was instrumental in developing a concept that would be viable in the restaurant business. The Homestead Bakery and the Granary in Farmington joined as participants the first year without hesitation.

“The expertise of the chef/owners in preparing menus of culinary excellence plus the support of organizations such as the Western Mountains Alliance, the Healthy Communities Coalition, Healthy Androscoggin and the University of Maine at Farmington has made this a very successful project,” said Maurer. Last year’s Maurer Meals raised $2,333 for the scholarship fund.

Last spring the first scholarship was awarded to Justin Henderson of Plantsville, Conn.

Maurer is hoping that sustainable relationships will be built between local restaurants and local farms.

Taking part on Oct. 14 will be the Boiler Room in Wilton, 645-3170; the Boiler Room in Rumford, 369-0055; the Homestead Bakery, 778-6162, and the Granary, 779-0710, both in Farmington; the Carriage House Café in Livermore, 897-5880; Sedgley Place in Greene, 946-5990; Davinci’s Eatery in Lewiston, 782-2088; LaFleur’s in Jay, 897-2117; and the Porter House in Eustis, 246-7932.

For reservations, call a participating restaurant; for information about the scholarship contact Pat Carpenter, UMF, 778-7091; and for information about the project, contact Gary Maurer at 524-2060.