The Jefferson Area Food Bank, in the basement of the First Baptist Church parsonage in Jefferson, gives food, clothes, over-the-counter medicines and other necessities to families in need from Jefferson, Somerville, and North Nobleboro.
The food bank has been working out of the parsonage since 2004, and from other locations around the area for decades, but they haven’t seen a year like 2009 in a long time, Donna and Ellis Bond said.
The married couple is retired and devotes a lot of time to the food bank. They drive to pick up supplies, dole out food when the bank is open, and serve as treasurer and financial assistant at First Baptist, making sure donations to the food bank help those in need.
Along with the Bonds, Cindy Wallis and Stacey Morin come every month to help give out food and maintain the food bank. Matt Wallace, an 8th grader at Jefferson Village School has been volunteering at the food bank every month for about a year.
In 2009, the food bank spent $13,862.52, twice as much as they spent in 2008, according to their submission to the Jefferson Town Report.
Ellis Bond said 85 families are registered with the food bank right now. Each are allowed to come once each month. The food bank is open on the second Wednesday and fourth Saturday each month.
With the economic slide, resulting job losses and increase in the cost of food, this is many more families than have needed the food bank in the past.
“We got wiped out last time we were open,” Donna Bond said. “You couldn’t have put more food on the shelves, now we’re pretty empty.”
The food bank has been able to keep up with the increase in need by dipping into funds saved from previous years and because of generous donations.
“Almost every local club, organization and business supports this food bank,” Donna Bond said. “You couldn’t list all the help we get in the paper.”
“There’s so many people that have done so much,” Ellis Bond added. “For people to dig out money in this economy is just amazing to me.”
Ellis Bond said in his experience, generosity like this comes in cycles, and they’re in a good spot in the cycle right now. With such a high need, it couldn’t have been better timed.
The food bank gets produce from three local farms: County Fair Farm, Broken Acres Farm, and Spear’s Farm. They get baked goods from Country Kitchen and Borealis Breads.
Most of the food is purchased through Good Shepherd Food Bank in Auburn. Every dollar spent there is worth 12 dollars spent at a grocery store, according to their submission to the town report.
The Bonds drive to Auburn twice each month to the pick up the food at Good Shepherd, as well as driving to the bakeries and farms.
“It’s very gratifying to see the faces of people who are getting some pretty good stuff,” Ellis Bond said.
The couple has been volunteering at the food bank for about three years, but they frequently downplay their contributions.
“We don’t care to brag about it, we just do what comes naturally,” Ellis Bond said. “We don’t need a lot of publicity for ourselves.”
Donna Bond worked the old Bond General Store for years and loved it, and now that she’s retired, the food bank fills her need to serve people, she said.
“The clients are like family,” she said. “We know their ups and downs and when they get sick. Coming to the food bank gives them a chance to talk.”
The Bonds work hard to make sure the clients at the food bank feel comfortable. It’s important to them that no one feels like they’re on welfare when they walk into the parsonage basement.
“We’re very careful,” Donna Bond said. “You never know when you’re going to be in that position.”
It’s the joy of seeing people get the help they need when they’re in trouble that keeps the Bonds going. Many stories come easily to their minds, in great detail, about individuals they’ve helped.
One woman came in and was shivering, Ellis Bond recalled. It was early fall and just starting to get cold.
There was a rack of jackets on one wall, and she asked if she could take one.
“If it fits, take it,” Ellis Bond told her. “It was a large men’s coat, but she wrapped herself in it, looked at me, and said, ‘It fits.’ When someone goes out with more than they came in with, you know you helped somebody.”
The Bonds and the other regular volunteers call all their clients by their first names, and “maybe before they leave, you give them a hug,” Donna Bond said. “It’s about making them feel like family.”
Paul Bond, Ellis Bond’s cousin, has been the manager at the food bank since it moved to the parsonage.
“He’s the one who really started it, and just got us to help him,” Donna Bond said.
He was unavailable for this article due to illness, but has been the driving force behind the food bank’s success, the Bonds said.
“We wish he’d get back soon,” Ellis Bond said. “So we can go back to harassing him.”
