After opening Martha and Mary’s Kitchen’s doors, the volunteers saw folding tables piled high with various foods. There were baked goods on one table, vegetables on another and fruits on a third. Additionally, there were multiple fridges stuffed with various cold goods. These would be the paints used to color the takeout boxes of patrons.
Food insecurity is a long-running issue in Maine. According to Feeding America’s 2019 data, Aroostook County had a food insecurity rate of 16 percent. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have increased these rates. Feeding America’s 2021 projections show a 0.6 percent increase of food insecurity in Aroostook County. The State of Maine as a whole ranked sixth overall in highest rates of low food security. The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines food insecurity by the quality and variety of food eaten. Very low food security is the frequency of skipped meals. Local food banks and soup kitchens are integral to serving these community needs. They’re also reliant on volunteers for daily operations.
Tables of donated foods for soup kitchen patrons.
Brightly colored wall posters detailed all procedures a volunteer would need to know. Everything from set up to clean up was in bold marker. The most important details circled and underlined. One requirement that often appeared was the meal serving time, marked as 3 p.m. The time was 12:30 p.m. Two and a half hours to make a well-rounded hot meal for roughly 70 people. Part of daily procedures was to tally every person served. This information is then used to determine how much food to make on future days.
