Kristina Verney has always wanted to give back to her community. Her work these days helps improve access to local and healthy food. (Courtesy photo)
For Kristina Verney, giving back to the community in which she grew up is part of her everyday work at the Miles and Boothbay campuses of MaineHealth Lincoln Hospital.
Verney was raised in Alna and graduated from Lincoln Academy in 2008, where she played field hockey. She went on to study food science and nutrition at the University of Maine Orono.
Being diagnosed with Type I diabetes in high school motivated her to turn toward the study of nutrition, as opposed to nursing, which she had been considering.
“I was really scared,” said Verney. “I wanted to learn as much as I could about (diabetes), and to go bring my education back to the community.”
After graduation, Verney worked in central Maine as a nutrition educator focusing on SNAP, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. She also worked in schools and childcare centers. Still, she hoped to return to the place that raised her. Verney bought property in Alna and built her own home there while starting work for LincolnHealth nine years ago.
“My degree allows for a lot more flexibility in what I do,” she said. “Right now, I’m the program manager for Community Health (of MaineHealth), but I’m covering a lot of different things.”
Her work centers on reducing food insecurity in the area and promoting wellness and nutrition education. When the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, Verney pioneered the “Help Yourself Shelves,” found at LincolnHealth campuses. These shelves offer free, nutritious food to anyone who needs it.
“We saw that there was a big need in every community, and many people were still at work, so they couldn’t necessarily access food pantries or they just needed a little help otherwise,” she said.
Partnering with local food pantries, Healthy Lincoln County, and the Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program, a Brunswick nonprofit working to reduce food insecurity, Verney established a system where each Monday she picks up food and distributes it at MaineHealth Lincoln Hospital facilities. This is still part of her job today.
“MidCoast gives fresh produce and dry goods, personal care items – basically whatever they have that I can put on the shelves,” said Verney. “That’s nice because some of the other food only comes once a month, whereas this is once a week.”
Verney has since expanded partnerships with other volunteer organizations, like the St. Andrews Auxiliary League in Boothbay.
“I’ll go there periodically to pick up those donations, which is really helpful, and all that goes directly back to the Boothbay community,” she said.
“A lot of our food comes from the Good Shepherd Food Bank and the partnership with Ecumenical Food Pantry,” said Verney.
After seeing the demand for healthy, fresh food, Verney began other projects to increase awareness and provide more nutritious options.
“(Parts) of my job have transpired into figuring out these innovative ways to get access to food for people where they are,” she said.
Verney worked on a partnership with six local farms and Lincoln Hospital to make it easier for employees to sign up for community-supported agriculture, or “CSA.” Each spring, employees have the opportunity to sign up for a CSA at any of the local farms in the partnership.
“It’s a great program because care team members don’t have to do any sort of legwork, they just fill out the CSA form, and I get their information directly to the farm,” Verney said.
This year alone, LincolnHealth staff signed up for around $60,000 worth of CSA shares through the program, said Verney.
“That’s $60,000 going directly back into our community and to our farmers, in a time when they really need it,” she said.
Verney also organized Works on Wellness, or WOW, gardens, which established raised beds for growing produce on LincolnHealth campuses. The vegetables grown at these gardens can either be taken by care team members or stocked on the Help Yourself Shelves.
“That’s pretty great that our care team members get to help give back to the shelves, or they can take (the produce) themselves if they need it,” said Verney.
“I help get things set up each spring with seeds, doing any maintenance,” she said. Daily management of the gardens is performed by care team members.
According to Verney, demand has only increased for affordable, healthy choices. “We have a hard time keeping it stocked, and we have a lot of people who know the schedule of when we’re going to be getting fresh produce,” she said. “So often I find that as I’m refilling the shelves, people are already there and waiting.”
The inconsistency of what produce will be available keeps the shelves exciting, she said. “People have the opportunity to try something that maybe they’ve never tried before, or there can just be reliable staple foods, like squash and potatoes in the winter.”
Verney also highlighted challenges to combating food insecurity that are specific to this region, like the lack of transportation.
“Our food pantries in this area do a really great job working with what they have, but there’s still always going to be the sort of hurdles and stigma around food insecurity,” she said. “And [the pantries] are also working mostly on a volunteer basis, so they have limited hours and it’s hard for people with limited transportation.”
Although Verney wishes more food could be provided to all those who need it, she is grateful that there is “a sort of equal system across our county.”
“Even though we’re under MaineHealth, these were just pilot programs I was able to launch, and it turned into something really big and impactful,” she said. “Not every community has assets to be able to do that.”
With long days of driving to different locations to pick up and drop off food, it’s the people who keep Verney going.
“I’m able to drive around and get to know all the different care team members at each of the different sites, and the people who are picking up this food,” she said. “The community we live in is easy to call home. I go to the gym and it’s the same friendly faces each morning, driving to work, the same cars you meet, or popping into the grocery store, I always know I will see someone I know.”
Verney’s work for Lincoln Hospital isn’t the only way she engages with this community. The Alna Snowmobile Club, where she is the vice president, provides “positivity to our winters,” through monthly meetings, holiday parties, and swag giveaways, Verney said. Part of her role is to raise money for the club, whether that’s through raffle tickets or grant writing.
Even though the snow has been minimal in recent years, Verney said the snowmobiling community transcends the activity itself. “People still want to come out and be a part of our club, which has been really fun and exciting.”
When she isn’t snowmobiling, she enjoys skiing, fishing, kayaking, traveling, and spending time at her family camp in western Maine.
“I am very passionate about the outdoors and try to spend as much time outdoors as possible,” Verney said.
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