Maine credit union walking campaign contributes $10,000 for food pantries

WINSLOW — The Maine Credit Unions’ Campaign for Ending Hunger, which has raised and distributed more than $6.5 million to help end hunger in Maine since 1990, has again partnered with Brenda Davis, one of the state’s leading ending hunger advocates and director of BBC Opportunity Center, an Old Town-based hunger agency that serves thousands of Maine people, to cover the state of Maine on foot to raise awareness about the problem of hunger in Maine.

Recently, the tour made stops in Kennebec County in Augusta, where it started at Maine State CU, Gardiner, Monmouth, Oakland, Vassalboro, Waterville, Winslow and Winthrop. As part of the tour’s mission of making an impact in each community it visited, the Campaign for Ending Hunger also presented a check to a food pantry. Collectively, the contributions will enable the local food pantries to purchase approximately $10,000 worth of food and supplies at Good Shepherd Food Bank.

Food pantries receiving contributions in Kennebec County include Augusta Food Bank, Chrysalis Place/Gardiner Food Bank, Monmouth Food Pantry, Oakland Food Bank, Vassalboro Food Station, Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter in Waterville, Winslow Area Food Pantry and Winthrop Food Pantry. The 15th annual Maine Credit Unions’ Ending Hunger Walking Tour was the largest yet with the walk visiting a record- setting 90 communities and raising $623,000 during the monthlong tour.

During the walk, Brenda Davis, executive director of Cross Roads Ministries of Old Town, is traveling throughout the state from Madawaska to Kittery focusing attention on the severity that hunger exists in Maine, with 15 percent of Maine’s population identified as food insecure. Brenda visited food pantries, hunger organizations and credit unions in each town she visited.

At each credit union, Brenda picked up a contribution from the Maine Credit Unions’ Campaign for Ending Hunger as a way to support her cause. Overall, the campaign’s contributions will help food pantries throughout Maine purchase nearly $150,000 worth of food to feed Maine’s hungry. She began her monthlong journey on Oct. 21 in Augusta and expected to encompass between 750 to 800 miles on foot. The walk concluded with a special ceremony in Bangor on Nov. 21. To make a tax-deductible contribution to the campaign, please visit www.mainecul.org or stop by a local credit union.