AUBURN — Good Shepherd Food Bank, Maine’s largest hunger-relief organization, is embarking on a $250 million Campaign to End Hunger in Maine by 2025.

Hannaford Supermarkets anticipates providing nearly half of that goal. Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has donated $25 million to the effort, according to the food bank.

The organization’s leaders said in a news release Thursday that the campaign goal is as extraordinary as the problem itself. Before the pandemic, the food bank estimated that 175,000 Mainers were at risk for hunger, and now that number could climb upward of 215,000, or 16% of the population, including 60,000 children.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has placed a microscope on the devastating impacts of hunger, the resiliency of our 500 partners across the state, and on the willingness of Mainers to reach out and help their neighbors,” Kristen Miale, president of Good Shepherd Food Bank, said. “With a renewed public awareness about the prevalence of hunger, now is the time to build a movement and end hunger in our great state. The pandemic will someday fade away, but its impacts on hunger won’t unless we take action now.”

Through its Campaign to End Hunger in Maine, Good Shepherd Food Bank is looking to raise $100 million in cash and pledges and $150 million in donated food before the end of 2025. It’s raised $115 million in food and funds to date.

Lead campaign donor Hannaford projects it will contribute $120 million in donated food and in finances.

“In the 40 years since Hannaford Supermarkets helped found the food bank, we’ve never seen a need like there is today,” Mike Vail, president of Hannaford Supermarkets, said. “As an employer with stores throughout Maine, we have seen firsthand the negative impact hunger has on individuals and our state. From education and workforce development to health care and families’ ability to make ends meet, hunger affects every major challenge Maine faces. Let’s not let another generation pass us by. Let’s end hunger now.”

Scott’s intended donation, but not the specific amount, was announced in December as part of $4 billion in giving. In addition, more than 43,000 donors have made gifts of all sizes since the food bank began the advance and quiet phase of the campaign.

The goal of the Campaign to End Hunger is to ensure that every Mainer has access to enough nutritious food, when and where they need it, by 2025, Miale said.

Based on data from Feeding America, the largest hunger-relief organization in the U.S., Good Shepherd Food Bank estimates that 40 million meals are missing from the plates of Mainers this year. In partnership with more than 500 community organizations in its network, the food bank has grown its distribution from 10 million meals in 2010 to 27.2 million meals during its last fiscal year.

The food bank is on track to distribute 32.5 million meals in 2021, according to Miale.

“My bigger concern is how we support our network of partners through this growth and what we can do as a state to reduce the demand on our network, now and in the future,” she said.

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