DIXFIELD — A local community group is working with Mimi’s Place at 60 Weld St. in Dixfield to provide free meals to those in need.

A Pay It Forward Board is displayed in the store with tickets listing menu items or a dollar amount toward a meal. Donors can select a menu item or an amount of money and a ticket will be posted on the board. Those in need can select a ticket, no questions asked, and the eatery will prepare the item selected.

“There’s a crisis coming because the government shutdown means that hundreds of families will lose their grocery money,” organizer Nicole Cummings of Community Footprints in Dixfield said Friday morning.

Cummings has been a regular customer of owner Anthony Wells’ businesses — Mimi’s Place and the Bethel Sugar Shack.

Wells said he’s happy to have a Pay It Forward Board at Mimi’s Place because they have one at the Bethel Sugar Shack, 156 West Bethel Road. It started after the flood in December of 2023 and is still going strong, he said.

“I know one family, right after the flood didn’t have power for almost two weeks, and we fed them pretty much every day. It was all community funded,” he said.

“Everything is for the community,” he said. “(Hunger is) an ongoing issue anyway and it’s only going to get worse with what’s happening right now,” he said.

“There’ll be a little abuse of it, but that’s just par for the course,” he added. “It’s worth it.”

Wells said with the Pay It Forward Board in Bethel, “We’ll throw things up there from time to time, but honestly, most of the customers will buy their meal, see it and say, hey, I’d like to add $10 to this board, or whatever … There’s always stuff on it. It’s helped a lot of people. No doubt in my mind.”

Cummings said Community Footprints is a community group whose mission is to provide youth with opportunities to engage in their community through volunteer work, family events, educational clubs and job shadowing. It is in the process of becoming a nonprofit, she said.

As part of its mission, it is holding a contest for children and families in the River Valley area to raise money for the Pay It Forward Board from now to Friday, Oct. 31, at 7 p.m. Whoever raises the most will get a pizza party for their family. Second place is a large pizza. Third place is a personal pizza.

Here’s how it works: Parents or guardians can pick up a menu at Mimi’s Place and have their child ask people they know for donations toward meals on the Mimi’s Place menu. They turn in the money and meal choices at Mimi’s, which will take the their name and phone number. The cashier will print the ticket and hang it on the board.

To enter the contest, message Cummings at 207-418-8279.

“That’s my goal, to keep it going throughout the community even after the contest, which is to just promote and get it out there so people know it’s there,” Cummings said. “And to give kids the opportunity to start raising money.”

Cummings said her group plans to continue raising funds for the Pay It Forward Board.

“A lot of families that are going to have a hard time through this crisis I’m involved with,” she said.

To help them, Cummings is having a drive for food and household supplies, which will last at least through November. All donations will be dispersed throughout area food pantries.

Drop-off is at Mimi’s Place, which is open daily from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Confirmation of a second drop-off is pending, she said.

The group will also hold a drive for nonperishable foods, household supplies, sanitary and baby items.