By Gillian Graham

Staff Writer 

Walking through the York County Food Rescue warehouse, Director Jodi Bissonnette pointed to four pallets of candy and shook her head.

“It makes it very, very hard,” she said. “People can’t live on this.”

The boxes of candy – mostly miniature chocolate bars – sit in space previously occupied by staples such as pasta, cereal and other dry goods. Food donated to the warehouse by area grocery stores has dwindled in recent months as store managers keep stock tight to reduce waste, she said. 

Now, as local food pantries struggle to feed more and more hungry families, Bissonnette has less to give.

York County Food Rescue has supplied 43 area food pantries and meal programs with food at no cost since January 2008. The program operates from a donated 9,000-square-foot warehouse on Jagger Mill Road in Sanford. It relies heavily on dozens of volunteers who sort and prepare food for distribution. Bissonnette said the program soon will reach a total of 1.5 million pounds of food distributed.

“If we were to close, a lot of the pantries wouldn’t have anything at all,” she said.

The food rescue program relies primarily on donations from area businesses and residents, as well as grants Bissonnette secures through state and federal government programs. Food provided to pantries includes frozen meats, vegetables and dinners, fresh produce, canned products. Eggs are provided through a grant funded by federal stimulus money. 

The program’s goal is to provide balanced meals for families – not just candy, cookies and sugary juice drinks that currently fill the warehouse, Bissonnette said.

Each pantry receives an average of 16,000 to 19,000 pounds of food monthly from the food rescue program. Bissonnette said need for food has gone up at least 30 percent in every pantry she works with. While the number of patrons using pantries and other food service programs has been on the rise for more than a year, she said the need has been especially noticeable in the past six months.

Bissonnette said many people picking up food from pantries are doing so for the first time. Middle class families who are “down and out” now pick up canned vegetables and other staples instead of donating extra food from their pantry shelves, she said. 

“Every week I have people tell me they never thought they would come here,” Bissonnette said. ‘The folks that need it now are the ones who are proud.”

At the Saco Food Pantry, Bob Nichols has been left wondering how he will provide food for all the people who come in looking for help. Shelves are bare, freezers are half full and storage rooms are no longer crowded with pallets of food. Nichols, who manages pantry operations, said the pantry fed 42 new people from 18 families in June alone. In 2008, the pantry served an average of 44 new people every month, he said. 

“We were in good shape. We had money, the donations were keeping up with the people who needed food,” Nichols said. 

Now, he said, the pantry is struggling like other programs in the area. Nichols has reduced the number of items families can take to make sure everyone gets something. The goal of the pantry is to provide three meals per day for four days for each person in a family, he said. 

“With the cuts, it might be only three days depending on the family,” he said.

When the pantry received less than half the food it ordered last month from Good Shepherd Food Bank in Auburn, Nichols changed signs hanging throughout the pantry to let families know what they could take. Previously, a family of up to three people could take three cans of vegetables plus a box of potato flakes. The box of potato flakes is now included in the three items available, but families can help themselves to larger quantities of candy and cookies. 

Nichols said food reductions affect families negatively, but the pantry is doing everything it can to restock its shelves and freezers.

“They’re going to have to figure out how they’re going to get food,” he said. “We will help out as much as we can.”

 Bissonnette and Nichols said July and August are particularly difficult months for food programs as people travel and think less about donating. Food drives common with school groups traditionally take place around holiday months, so organizers must learn to manage supplies to make them last throughout the year, Bissonnette said. 

Nichols said giving doesn’t have to be time consuming or expensive.

“If it’s on sale, we need it,” Nichols said. “If it’s buy one, get one free, we’ll take the free one.”

Though Bissonnette expects the remainder of the year to be tough – especially once the heating season starts – she said she hopes local farmers will give generously when they harvest crops. Also important, she said, is for area residents to take a hard look at what they can afford to give and make the commitment to help their neighbors.  

“When you have a food drive, it’s those who need who give,” she said. “Generosity starts at home.”

Bissonnette said raising awareness is key to helping pantries weather the current economic climate. She said she often feels York County Food Rescue is the “world’s biggest secret,” but people give generously once they learn about the program.

“We really need to go back to neighbor helping neighbor. If you see a neighbor struggling, see what you can do to help,” Bissonnette said. “If you give of yourself the most you can give, you’ve done a great thing.”

For more information about the Saco Food Pantry, call 468-1305. For more information about York County Food Rescue, go to www.yorkcountyfoodrescue.org or call 324-1273.

Staff Writer Gillian Graham can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 213.