Oxford’s Helping Hands Food Pantry, which operated from Oxford’s Congregational Church before moving to its current location at 114 King Street, will hold its final distribution day on March 7. It is closing due to lack of funding. Nicole Carter/Advertiser Democrat

OXFORD — Helping Hands Food Pantry has announced that due to lack of funding it will cease operations next month.

According to Spokesperson Linda Hooker, March 6 will be Helping Hands’ final distribution day.

Mike Ward, the board’s former president who stepped down last September when he was hired as Paris’ police department chief, said the demand for services has far exceeded Helping Hands’ ability to keep up with its clients’ needs.

“When I started (in November of 2022), we were serving about 30 families,” Ward told the Advertiser Democrat. “But it just kept growing, to more than 100. There just haven’t been enough donations to pay for the food.”

The last several years have brought a number of challenges that food pantry’s board of directors worked hard to overcome.

Helping Hands has been located at at 115 King Street since May of 2023. The space, a former ice cream shop, had adequate food storage, plenty of parking and easy ground level access.

It had been located on the third floor of Oxford’s former Town Office on Pleasant Street for a decade. With that building’s elevators often not working, taking in and distributing food to the public was labor intensive.

When the town office was sold Helping Hands found a temporary home at the Oxford Congregational Church at 252 King Street. But sharing the church’s kitchen and meeting space meant that tables and supplies had to be completely set up and broken down every distribution day.

“We want to thank all of our volunteers who have helped over the years,” Hooker told the Advertiser Democrat. She added that alternative food pantries may be found on Helping Hand’s Facebook page, facebook.com/groups/753762246346521.

Oxford has two other food pantries: the Seventh Day Adventist Church at 259 Fore Street distributes food boxes the second Friday morning of each month and Daddy O’s has a self-serve pantry every morning.

In Norway, the Oxford Hills Food Pantry, located at the Episcopal Church on Paris Street in Norway is open Monday and Friday mornings and Wednesday afternoons. MaineHealth Stephen’s food pantry is open Tuesday and Thursday 11 a.m.-3p.m. or by appointment.

The Harrison Food Bank distributes food on Tuesdays between noon and 6 p.m. and also delivers to households with transportation or access challenges.