Faced with higher costs, food pantries across Lincoln County found ways to provide Christmas distributions this month at the close of an increasingly expensive year. Some pantries cut the extras traditionally included or changed offerings, while many ordered far in advance to avoid supply chain challenges.
Food costs increased 10.6% overall and 12% for groceries nationally between November 2021 and last month, as reported by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Attendance at food pantries and other food agencies has stayed high since the pandemic began, according Dawn DiFiore, director of community partnerships at Good Shepherd Food Bank, a statewide organization that serves as a bulk food-buying source for more than 600 agencies in Maine.
Representatives from Lincoln County pantries said patron numbers have dropped since 2020, but some have seen a slight rise in recent months and suspect that higher heating costs are eating into personal budgets.
“The need is still out there, but the attention given to the matter has waned,” DiFiore said.
Charitable food organizations rely on three prongs of support to meet that need: monetary donations, food donations, and volunteer hours, according to DiFiore.
“Donations have gone down across the board” since 2020, DiFiore said. “We’re hearing that from agencies and partners.”
Many Lincoln County food pantries have been in operation for decades, and their organizers said they have learned to prepare for uncertainty — order foods in advance and in bulk, working with substitutions when they need to, and managing their budgets.
Still, all of them saw higher prices, and some adjusted their offerings.
The Jefferson Area Community Food Pantry provided $10 Hannaford gift cards at the Christmas pickup in place of turkey or hams for the first time this year because ordering would be too expensive, according to organizer Allison Brooks.
“This pantry was the most expensive we’ve ever put on,” Brooks said about the Christmas pantry on Wednesday, Dec. 14. “Inflation is hitting us hard … we’re almost outspending what we’re bringing in.”
Brooks said donations to the Jefferson pantry have also gone down in 2022 as donors had their own savings affected.
The Jefferson pantry typically serves 90 residents, Brooks said. Attendance has doubled every year since 2020 and doubled again in the last four months.
The Christmas pickup typically includes gift stockings for visitors to choose from, but that was not in the budget this year either. A last-minute donation of Christmas items from a resident and First National Bank still allowed visitors to choose a gift.
Brooks said she began planning for Christmas in October and ordered double at Thanksgiving. Like some other area food pantries, she orders directly through Main Street Grocery in Damariscotta and supplements with produce from the Twin Villages Foodbank Farm.
Pantries with larger budgets similarly plan ahead, such as the Boothbay Region Food Pantry.
Co-president Fleet Davies said that while the organization is flush with donations, he can still struggle to find what he wants to purchase in large enough quantities, although availability has improved in the last six months. He orders through Hannaford in addition to Good Shepherd.
In 2020, the pantry decided to switch to a monetary voucher for families to use for holiday purchases due to challenges in providing enough of the same food for everyone.
“Generally, when we order, I estimate we get on average 85% of what we order,” Davies said. “Many times I will try to buy more than I might need, knowing that sometime I’m going to run into a situation where I can’t buy it.”
Other pantries found what they needed and had the money to purchase it, but still felt a pinch.
Organizers of the Help Yourself Shelf in Wiscasset spent about 50% more this year than in 2021 to serve the 80-90 families that come in for Thanksgiving and Christmas, according to volunteer Brie DiPerri. Donations from other programs and local businesses helped them to provide everything they typically offer for the holiday, including small gifts from Big Al.
At the New Harbor Food Pantry in the United Methodist Church, organizer Kevin Adams said while prices were up, the pantry was still able to supply the Christmas food baskets delivered each year by the Bristol Area Lions Club.
“Our community keeps fundraising,” Brooks said.
Though her budget is limited, she said she has all the volunteers she could ever need.
“People come out of the blue, and that’s what is keeping us going,” she said.
