Great Shepherd Foods Financial institution responds to billionaire’s donation

A employee packs meals packing containers at Good Shepherd Food stuff Lender. Great Shepherd Food stuff Bank photo

AUBURN — The individuals of Good Shepherd Meals Bank are thrilled to say the minimum. 

Slated to obtain a chunk of a $4 billion donation from writer and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, Very good Shepherd organizers say the cash will enable them get additional meals to far more people today who desperately need to have it. 

How will they use the revenue? 

“We are swiftly convening our board of administrators, leadership workforce, and other stakeholders,” President Kristen Miale reported, “and operating hard to ensure that the philanthropy entrusted to us will assistance a lot more Mainers obtain a lot more healthy foods equitably and proficiently — now during the disaster of COVID-19, and for the extended time period.”  

It’s not very clear particularly how substantially Excellent Shepherd will acquire. The Meals Bank expects to obtain its gift early in 2021 and ideas to share aspects at that time and how it will be invested across Maine’s charitable meals community. 

“MacKenzie Scott’s expenditure in Maine is a vote of self-confidence in the do the job we are all executing jointly to conclude hunger in our fantastic condition,” Miale said. “From our additional than 500 community partners and our meals donors, to all the folks, organizations and foundations that help us with economical contributions at each individual level — we should really all experience happy to get this nationwide and intercontinental recognition.” 

Scott declared the donations Tuesday through a site publish on Medium, with quite a few of the recipients serving vulnerable populations that have been hit additional really hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In accordance to Good Shepherd, the announcement will come as Maine is in the midst of an unprecedented hunger crisis. Right before the COVID-19 pandemic, Maine experienced the 12th highest foods insecurity charge in the country with 180,000 Mainers relying on Fantastic Shepherd Foods Bank and its statewide community of associates. Nowadays, that variety strategies 215,000 men and women, at minimum 60,000 of whom are children, with homes of coloration experiencing disproportionately higher costs of starvation. 

Based on data from Feeding The us, the largest starvation-reduction group in the U.S., Very good Shepherd Food Bank estimates there are all over 13 million meals lacking from the plates of Mainers this calendar year, on prime of the 27.2 million meals the Food stuff Lender and its partners are supplying. The corporation aims to near this food gap by 2025. 

Excellent Shepherd Foodstuff Financial institution recently posted info demonstrating the influence of its network’s get the job done in the earlier year. Irrespective of sizeable foodstuff sourcing issues for the duration of the top of the pandemic, the Meals Financial institution dispersed two million much more meals calendar year-around-yr when raising the volume of locally developed and generated food stuff by 25%. To support bolster the statewide exertion, the Meals Bank granted extra than $1 million to foods pantries, food sites, colleges, and other partners across the point out, together with grants to corporations led by and serving communities of coloration for sourcing culturally pertinent food items. 

“The philanthropic investment from MacKenzie Scott will be an accelerator and amplifier as we get the job done towards the intention of ending starvation in Maine, but the trouble is even larger than what any 1 philanthropist can resolve,” Miale reported. “Ending hunger and its devastating effects in our good state is in just our attain when we all come with each other and add to the solution. With this financial commitment and the continued generosity of all Mainers, with each other we can conclude hunger.” 

For additional details, stop by feedingmaine.org. 

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