FARMINGTON – The third annual Maurer Meals will be held Friday and Saturday, Oct. 12 and 13, at 11 area restaurants in 10 Western Maine communities.

The individually owned businesses will raise money for the Justin A. Maurer Memorial Scholarship Fund and support Maine agriculture by offering a menu of alternative specials using locally grown foods focusing on organic and all natural foods.

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 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 Justin’s 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 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, Gary, 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 was a former employer 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.”

He said, “Each year the goal is to add new restaurants and this year Jacoby’s of Norway, the Olde Mill Tavern of Harrison and the Lake House Inn of Waterford have joined the project. 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 Community Coalition of Franklin County, Healthy Androscoggin, Healthy Oxford Hills, River Valley Healthy Community Coalition and the University of Maine at Farmington has made this a very successful project.”

Last year’s Maurer Meals raised more than $1,700 for the scholarship fund.

Maurer is hoping that sustainable relationships will be built between local restaurants and local farms. The distribution, storage and processing systems necessary to better service restaurants and institutions with local foods are needed and are developing in the region.

Restaurants taking part include the Boiler Room in Wilton, 645-3170; the Boiler Room in Rumford, 369-0055; the Homestead Bakery, 778-6162, and the Granary, 779-0710, in Farmington; the Carriage House Café in Livermore. 897-5880; Sedgley Place in Greene, 946-5990; LaFleur’s in Jay, 897-2117; the Porter House in Eustis, 246-7932; Jacoby’s in Norway, 739-2820; the Olde Mill Tavern in Harrison, 583-9077; and the Lake House Inn in Waterford, 583-4182.

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