Hancock County Food Drive

The 13th Hancock County Food Drive is Happening NOW through April 30, 2024

The Hancock County Food Drive is an annual month-long food collection and fundraising project that supports food pantries, free meal programs, and school backpack programs across Hancock County. These organizations work together every spring to raise funds and collect food, providing critical assistance to Mainers during a time when food insecurity rates are at their highest.

The Food Drive is organized by members of the Hancock County Food Security Network, Healthy Acadia, United Way of Eastern Maine, UMaine Cooperative Extension, and Star 97.7 FM, and is generously supported by Maine Community Foundation. Thank you to Maine Coast Mall in Ellsworth for providing an annual storage space for thousands of food donations.

You can contribute to food security in Hancock County with your donation HERE or by partipating in one or more of these events:

For more information and to get involved with these 2024 Hancock County Food Drive events, click the links below.

Food security organizations acrosss Downeast Maine collectively serve an estimated 10,000 community members every month. By building resources for these programs, the Hancock County Food Drive works to ensure that all people in our community have access to nutritious, affordable food.

The Food Drive supports these Hancock County food security programs:

At the end of April, all food drive donations will be evenly distributed among the 17 participating food assistance programs in Hancock County - 100% of your donation goes toward feeding people in our community!

CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW!

Thank you to all who made the 12th Annual Hancock County Food Drive a success! With your support, we EXCEEDED our $40,000 fundraising goal and are excited to share that we collected $45,908 in monetary donations and over 900 food items that were distributed to 17 local food security organizations across Hancock County. Click here for the full report.

If your business or organization is interested in collecting food or becoming a Hancock County Food Drive sponsor in 2024, please contact Rachel Emus at (207) 667-7171 or Rachel@HealthyAcadia.org.

For questions, or to learn more about getting involved, please contact Emily Shanahan at emily.shanahan@healthyacadia.org or visit www.hcfooddrive.org.

Continue the fight against hunger by making a donation to a food security organization in your community. Click here to find a food pantry or meal program near you. Help bring local produce to these organizations by volunteering with the Gleaning Initiative, which collects surplus fruits and vegetables from farms and redistributes the fresh produce to food assistance programs.

Food security organizations need your support throughout the year

Financial donations go further to feed our hungry neighbors. According to Good Shepherd Food Bank, every $10 you give can help to provide 30 meals for our neighbors facing hunger, since pantries can often buy food items at wholesale cost.

To support the Hancock County Food Drive at any point throughout the year, please send your check or money order donation to attn: Hancock County Food Drive, United Way of Eastern Maine, 700 Main Street, Suite 1, Bangor, ME 04401. Please make your check payable to United Way of Eastern Maine, and write "Hancock County Food Drive" in the memo line.

Learn more by visiting the project’s Facebook page (@hcfooddrive), or by contacting Rachel Emus, Healthy Acadia’s Hancock County Food Programs Manager, at Rachel@HealthyAcadia.org or (207) 667-7171.