Thanks to two very generous donors who created a matching gift challenge- any donation
received through the end of June will be matched dollar for dollar up to $50,000. This will
mean a total of $100,000 towards our new building campaign, bringing us closer to reaching
our goal! Will you help bring Loaves & Fishes home with a gift to the campaign? This is truly
a community effort where every gift counts. Double your impact by making a donation
today. Thank you!
Over the past few weeks, the community gardens planned for our future home have taken
shape. Atlantic Landscape Construction removed the old asphalt and prepped the site, and
a crew of stalwart volunteers assembled the beds. When completed, the gardens will
produce food for pantry clients and also serve as an outdoor classroom where people can
learn to grow their own food.
The community gardens are supported by the UMaine Cooperative Extension's Master
Gardener program, which helps extend University knowledge to Maine communities through
the teaching of sustainable gardening practices.
The program provides participants with at least 40 hours of in-depth training in the art and
science of horticulture. Trainees receive current, research-based information from UMaine
Extension educators and industry experts, and then volunteer their time and expertise in
many ways for community programs and activities.
A key focus of the University program is food security, so when the pantry applied for
volunteer assistance, it was a match made in heaven. We are grateful to Darling's Auto
Group for their generous commitment to the capital campaign. As sponsor of the community
garden the gardens will bear the Darling's Auto Group name. To learn about the campaign,
available naming gift opportunities and ways you can help visit
We're grateful to our media partners for helping build awareness about our new building
campaign, our matching gift challenge and our mission - to eliminate food insecurity in
Hancock County.
Our friends at Star 97.7 helped kick off our Matching GIft Challenge on the May 9 Morning
Show. Then, Newscenter Maine visited us at 137 Downeast Highway to talk about the
dollar-for-dollar match and our plans for the new building - you can watch the story here.
WDEA AM 1370 has tirelessly promoted tours of our future home. Maine Concerns [link to
interview file] overed our service offering and plans for the future. And, the Ellsworth
American published this article on the rising tide of food insecurity in our community, with
insights from Andy Matthews.
Our spring newsletter has just launched. Learn about progress on our new building campaign, pantry activities and ways you can get involved. Please subscribe if you don't already.
Our new home has the best neighbors ever -- Darling's Chevrolet! We are grateful for their presentation of a $60,000 gift to the pantry's capital campaign! The Darling's name and logo will appear on the community garden, the kitchen and boardroom. We are excited to forge this partnership and to have Darling's right next door!
Our gratitude to Chris Popper, the team at Townsquare Interactive, Hannaford and the community for the two TONS of pasta collected at the annual pasta drive on March 21st.
Exalted Ruler Eric Hoard from Ellsworth Elks Lodge #2743 presented Ken Hoogerhyde, Loaves & Fishes' Pantry Manger and Board Memver the Spotlight Grant of $2000.00 for Renovations in their new building. We are incredibly grateful to for their generous support of our new building campaign.
We're delighted to announce that First National Bank has made the first major contribution to our More Food, More Families, More Often capital campaign with a $75,000 donation. The bank's contribution will be recognized by naming the 3,200-square-foot market, where families will be able to shop as often as they need to, rather than just once a month.
"We are incredibly grateful to Tony and First National Bank for their generous support of our campaign, and in turn the Hancock County families we serve. This project is truly a community wide effort and our success depends on the support from individuals, businesses and foundations alike," shares Andy Matthews, Loaves & Fishes Board President.
Our winter newsletter is hot off the presses. Learn about exciting projects planned for the year and how you can get involved. Please subscribe if you don't already.
We were delighted to have Megan Crowder from Good Shepherd Food Bank come visit last November as part of their Stories from the Road series which highlights the work of their partners. You can find Megan's entire blog post about her visit here.
Loaves & Fishes is kicking off our first ever capital campaign - More Food, More Families, More Often - to support the purchase and renovation of our new building, which we purchased this past summer. The property, located at 137 Downeast Highway in Ellsworth, aligns with our vision for providing more food to more hungry people in Hancock County.
Our campaign goal of $850,000 will let us retire our loan from the Genesis Community Loan Fund, make the necessary renovations, outfit the building and move into the new space. It's our hope and goal to raise the required funds and open at our new location by the end of 2022. To do this, we need the community's help.
Learn about our capital campaign and ways you can help here.
As an all-volunteer organization we could not possibly accomplish all we do without our volunteers. We want to acknowledge three of our stalwart volunteers who have become an essential part of our operations. All three started off volunteering a day or two to try things out and before long they became an integral part of our team. They each go out of their way to support our vision and mission for this work - sharing their time and talent whenever asked!
Dave Schnebeck is from Highlands Ranch, CO where he had a 43 year career in retail (sporting goods) before retiring to to Ellsworth, Maine.
Cherie Longo, after finishing a long career in hospital administration, retired to Trenton from Gardiner to be closer to one of her children and her grandchildren.
Tom Berglewicz, a native of Connecticut, was stationed in Southwest Harbor in the Coast Guard and chose to make Maine his permanent home.
If you see Dave, Cherie or Tom around town we hope you'll take a moment and thank them for their help!
We have launched our first ever newsletter!
We look forward to sharing more news with you in the year ahead. Please subscribe if you haven’t already.
Thanks to the Rotary Club of Ellsworth, Ellsworth Hannaford, Star 97, the Interact students and of course our stalwart volunteers for making this event a big success! We collected a substantial amount of food, as well as $2,400 in donations at last Saturday's food drive at Hannaford. This is an increase over last year's event-onward and upward!
We launched our first-ever annual appeal in October. Thanks to your generosity we are half way to our goal of raising $25,000 by December 31! We need your help to make it over the finish line!
November 30 is #GivingTuesday. We invite you to join in supporting Loaves & Fishes this #GivingTuesday, November 30. When you make a donation to Loaves & Fishes where you can be assured that your gift will have an immediate impact.
Donating online is easy!
We'll be putting on our annual food drive in partnership with the Rotary Club of Ellsworth on Saturday, November 20 at the Ellsworth Hannaford from 9-2. Look for the Loaves & Fishes van outside the entrance! Food and cash donations welcome, or just stop by and say hello! Listen to Star 97 (97.7 FM) for updates throughout the day.