Fall 2022 Newsletter

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QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER — Fall 2022 As we celebrate the fall harvest, the phrase “reap what you sow” always comes to my mind. At AIO, we planted seeds of collaborations with volunteers, other non-profit groups, public service organizations, food growers, and local businesses. Today, we have a growing list of partners addressing food and energy insecurity in Knox County. We receive delicious, fully-prepared meals from the culinary department at The Mid-Coast School of Technology, freshly baked bread from the Bolduc Correctional Facility bakery, fresh produce and beef from local farmers, fresh coffee from Rock City, and many more generous providers. Outgoing, we provide food for the Knox County Homeless Coalition, Vinalhaven Food Pantry, Knox Clinic, and 14 schools participating in our Weekend Meals Program. Over the past year, I have learned kindness can be found in every corner of our community. Working together, we have indeed grown to be able to support more families with more food more often. As you will see below, we have expanded every service aspect by adding more hours, more volunteers, and more food. Most importantly, we are helping more people. We are truly reaping the benefits of a community coming together to help our neighbors. While we celebrate a bountiful harvest, we plant seeds today for the new seasons to come. I hope you enjoy our Autumn Newsletter and that you have a Happy Holiday season. With gratitude,   Joe Ryan Executive Director, AIO Food & Energy Assistance joe@aiofoodpantry.org  ARTFEEDS: Artists-In-Action Against Food Insecurity We thrilled to share that the ArtFeeds event raised nearly $20,000. For context, $20,000 provides food in the AIO market for approximately 250 families for about two months! As challenging as the next few months will be for many of our neighbors, ArtFeeds will truly live up to its name and immediately make a significant difference for families and individuals.  AIO has a long tradition of harnessing the talents and innovative ideas of Midcoast Maine’s creative community to make the connection between food and art. We are thrilled that this new collaboration between AIO, our community’s vibrant artists, the Page Gallery, and the Maine State Correctional Facility culminated in such an amazing exhibition of work.  Big thanks to our participating artists Lise Bécu, Hannah Berta, Meghan Brady, Beth Bull, Caroline Dishop, Ingrid Ellison, Ileana Appleton Foster, Eric Hopkins, Ariela Kuh, Alexis Iammarino, Monica Kelly, Sal Taylor Kydd, Sarah G Lee, Nathaniel Meyer, Christopher Mir, Tara Morin, Sarah McRae Morton, Colin Page, Margaret Rizzio, Anneli Skaar, Marianne Smith, Barbara Sullivan, Greta Van Campen, Simon van der Ven, Hannah Secord Wade, Peter Walls, Margaret Williams, Susan Williams, and a resident of the Maine State Correctional Facility.  Special thanks go to: filmmaker David Berez and photographer Tara Rice who documented artists at work and whose combined work led to the creation of the ArtFeeds film (watch the film below), to Anneli Skaar for creating the ArtFeeds logo, to Dan Bookham for photographing the Sept 10 event, to our event committee members- Erin Cochran, Leila Murphy, Colin Page, and Kirsten Surbey.  Given the success of ArtFeeds we are excited to start planning for 2023! The ArtFeeds film was created by David Berez. The photographs included were taken by Tara Rice. ANNUAL REPORT YEAR END ANNUAL APPEAL.... This past year, with your support, we’ve been effective in meeting the needs of the families we serve and we continue to reach many new families as is evidenced in our Annual Report shared above. To continue to deliver the same level of services we must be prepared to do everything we did last year- and then some.  We anticipate even greater growth in the year ahead. While we recognize that increased prices everywhere are having an impact, we believe this growth is in large part due to the change in the experience of coming to a food pantry.   We are living more food, more often, with individuals and families now coming as often as once a week. We are having an impact on the quality of life for those families who visit regularly and with your year-end support we will be prepared to do the same in the year ahead.  We are currently working with local businesses to create a match for the year-end appeal...watch your mailbox for an exciting match opportunity that will double the impact of your year-end gift. In the meaning, if you can't wait, you can donate today and your donation will be attributed to any match!  Donate Today! FILL THE CRUISER DIAPER DRIVE AIO's Diaper Drive on October 1 was a great success. Our appreciation goes out to everyone who donated and helped make the event a success. Special thanks goes to our collaborators-- Rockland and Thomaston Police Departments, Rockland Fire & EMS and Hannaford Supermarket-- all of whom joined us for the day. Their teams were helpful in speaking with people and collecting donations throughout the day. The Diaper Drive netted $520.00, which enables us to buy approximately 23 packs of our most common diaper sizes requested. Thanks to generous donors we collected 6,936 diapers during the drive (about 50 days worth of distributed diapers) and 124 packs of wipes. Both police departments delivered and helped unload all of the collected items at AIO. Our shelves are stocked with diapers and wipes that are ready to be distributed! AIO's Diaper Assistance Program has provided over 12,000 diapers to our Knox County clients so far this year. An average monthly supply of diapers costs a family more than $80 for just one child. VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT: JIM PACHECHO   Jim Pacheco was born in Massachusetts on what he calls a "truck farm", aka, a large produce farm. He said they grew everything and "trucked" it to the stores. He met his wife Beverly in high school (awwww ) saying they were band geeks together and he used to antagonize her. She asked him out on their first date to a Sadie Hawkins dance. They dated for 6 years before getting married. He made sure to tell us their first date was 50 years ago this coming November 17th. Jim and his wife have 3 children and 4 grandchildren. When two of his children were babies they followed some friends to Maine. They called Albion home for over 20 years where he had a large garden and raised cattle for personal use. They now live in Rockland. Michael Ott, who volunteers with Jim, says Jim is a " legendary gardener". Jim worked in medical administration and finance for area hospitals his whole career, including  Pen Bay Medical for 13 years and Waldo County for 9. Jim has a long history of volunteering in the community-- he was a volunteer firefighter for 20 years, a volunteer EMT for the town of Albion for 14 years, as well as a Lions Club member for 20 years. Jim has always loved playing music, but had a 30 year break before he started playing baritone horn again with the Midcoast Community Band. He also played with the Downeast Singers and the Bowdoin Concert Band. Jim had been away from volunteering for many years, but when his wife started playing ukulele in a band he met Joe Ryan and learned about AIO. Jim shares that after learning about AIO and what we did for the community he decided to start volunteering and has been doing so since the beginning of 2022.  Jim is joyful and smiling and has a great sense of humor. Jim is always willing to take on a new task, fill in where needed and is always quick to reach out to us to see if we need help before we contact him. He volunteers in the AIO Market where he greets and checks in clients, along with working the meats and sweets counter. He also works in the warehouse sorting incoming donations and stocking shelves in the Market to prepare for opening. He also volunteers for the Weekend Meals Program delivering food to schools. When Jim isn't volunteering and playing music, you can find him playing pickleball on a senior's team at MRC. THANK YOU Jim for all you to contribute to keeping AIO moving forward! VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! There is a lot of behind the scenes work that enables us to be ready for our client shopping days. We can use your help. If you see a day and time that works for you please contact Sara Spencer, sara@aiofoodpantry.org.  CURRENT OPPORTUNITIES.... MARKET This 3 volunteer team works together to welcome clients to AIO, check-in, assist in the AIO Market, and help with loading groceries into vehicles if needed. There are some outdoor tasks that are shared among the team (collecting grocery carts and putting out client #'s).  Mondays - 12-2 Wednesdays - 12-2 & 2-4 On-Call   WAREHOUSE Warehouse Volunteer activities include receiving food, sorting and stocking, pre-packing food for distribution, and stocking market shelves. Ability to lift up to 40# required. Mondays - 8-10 & 1-5 Wednesdays - 8-10 & 1-5 Thursdays - 8-12 & 1-3 Fridays - 8-10 On call - will be contacted when substitutes are needed WAREHOUSE FACILITIES The facilities shift is for performing maintenance projects around AIO, such as hanging signs, minor repairs/updates, assembling shelving, or small electrical, plumbing, carpentry projects, etc. Knowledge, skills, and/or licenses of the preceding are helpful. A willingness to help unload trucks when needed during your shift is appreciated. Some heavy lifting will be necessary. Thursdays - 8-12 DRIVERS Use your own vehicle to deliver and/or pick up food from stores, schools, and other donors. Every 4th Thursday - 12pm - Rockland Ferry -  In a rotation with 3 other volunteers, you will pick up totes of food from AIO every 4th week by 12pm and deliver onto the ferry in Rockland. Does not require you staying on the ferry. Drop and go. Nov - May will be a rotation of 3 volunteers. On call - Will be contacted when substitute drivers are needed WEEKEND MEALS PROGRAM  Weekend Meals provides meals to Elementary aged school children for the weekend.  Thursdays- Prescott Memorial School, Washington - Pickup totes at AIO & deliver before 2pm Wednesdays - 12:30-1pm - Set up Crew - set up conveyor system and food for packing crew. Tuesdays - 1-3 - Food prep crew - prepare foods to be packed into bags the next day On call - will be contacted when a substitute is needed Join, Connect & Support AIO!  THREE WAYS YOU CAN HELP TODAY: 1. MAKE A FINANCIAL DONATION. Your dollars go further as AIO is able to purchase food at a discounted price. When you make a financial gift you are helping to provide food, energy and diaper assistance to families who need help. You can donate online here.  2. VOLUNTEER. Volunteering at AIO is a great way to help people in your community, meet new friends, and be part of one of the most innovative food pantries in Maine. Whichever opportunities you choose, you will be an important part of the work we do.To get started click here.  3. DROPOFF DONATIONS. There is a wide variety of food, household and personal items that the families we serve need. To learn about our most needed items check here.  There are a variety of ways that you can support our programs and the families we serve:  Share this newsletter with your friends, family and colleagues. Follow us on social media to stay updated on our activities. Facebook  (AIOFoodpantry70) Instagram (aiofoodpantry) Hold a Food or Diaper drive! The majority of the food and diapers we distribute come from donations. Hold a Facebook Fundraiser in honor of your birthday or anniversary. AmazonSmile- Shop at Amazon Smile and Amazon will make a donation to AIO Food and Energy Assistance. You must first register AIO as your intended charity. Other Ways to Give- visit our website to learn about other ways you can support AIO. THANK YOU.  Yes! I want to support AIO! AIO Food and Energy Assistance Mailing Address:    ​P.O. Box 113, Rockland, ME  04841 Location:  1A Gordon Drive, Rockland, ME 04841       Phone:    (207) 596-1043 Email:   email@aiofoodpantry.org​​ Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

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