The Southern Aroostook County Food Pantry in Houlton may be forced to close after Hannaford, a supplier of the pantry for 16 years, announced a change in their distribution policy.
According to the Bangor Daily News, Hannaford informed the pantry on Valentine’s Day that the grocery store now works with the Good Shepherd Food Bank in Auburn and would no longer send monthly shipments of food to their pantry.
The food bank says they are giving out the remaining supplies from their last shipment sent in November. Volunteers at the pantry worry about the families they serve, some of whom don’t have any form of transportation and may go underserved with the other food banks in the area.
Mary Beth Foley, the head of the food bank, says she’s tried to make the pantry a partner of the Feeding America network, which Good Shepherd is a part of. Foley was told however, that because Houlton still has three other food banks, that the needs of impoverished families could be met without their food bank’s services.
Volunteers at Southern Aroostook County Food Pantry say they are worried that the other food pantries in the area may be overwhelmed if they shut down. The pantry has served over 400 families twice a month for 17 years.
