Maine Credit Unions raise $1,000 for state food pantries

    HOULTON — From Nov. 1-3, the 10th Annual Maine Credit Unions’ Ending Hunger Walking Tour traveled throughout Aroostook County and made stops in eight different communities to make a contribution to a local food pantry.
    Brenda Davis, one of the state’s leading ending hunger advocates, has been partnering with Maine’s credit unions to coordinate the Ending Hunger Walking Tour for the past 10 years.
    In Aroostook County, the tour stopped in Caribou, Fort Fairfield, Fort Kent, Houlton, Madawaska, Presque Isle, St. Agatha and Van Buren. A food pantry in each community received a check for $110 each commemorative of this being the tour’s 10th year, which can purchase more than $1,500 in food through the Good Shepherd Food Bank.
    Food pantries receiving a contribution include: Caribou Bread of Life Soup Kitchen in Caribou; Friends Helping Friends in Fort Fairfield; Greater Fort Kent Ecumenical Food Pantry in Fort Kent; Hope and Justice Project in Houlton; St. Thomas Aquinas/St. David Food Pantry in Madawaska; M & M Ministries Parson’s Food Pantry in Presque Isle; St. Joseph Food Pantry in Sinclair; and St. Peter-Chanel Food Pantry in Van Buren.
    This year’s tour visits the most communities, and covers the most miles in its history. The walk is expected to encompass a record of more than 1,525 miles, with approximately 725 of that on foot, and visit a record-setting 75 communities from Kittery to Madawaska. The tour will visit every Maine county for the sixth consecutive year. At each of the 84 credit union branches Davis visits, she will pick up a contribution from the Campaign as a way to support her cause. This year, the Maine Credit Unions’ Campaign for Ending Hunger will also make a $110 donation to a food pantry in each of the 75 communities that Davis visits.  The Maine Credit Unions’ Campaign for Ending Hunger will contribute nearly $30,000 to help end hunger through the tour, part of the larger initiative by credit unions to end hunger in Maine, which has, to date, raised and distributed more than $3.9 million.
    The walk is an effort on the part of Maine’s credit unions and Davis to build awareness about the problem of hunger in Maine during the month of November, which has been designated as Ending Hunger month. The walk will conclude with a ceremony at Maine Savings FCU in Hampden on Wednesday, Nov. 30.
    Since 1990, the Maine Credit Unions’ Campaign for Ending Hunger has raised over $3.9 million to help end hunger in Maine. This is the 22nd year of the campaign. Formed in 1938, the Maine Credit Union League is the State Trade Association for Maine’s 63 credit unions providing a variety of services and products to assist credit unions in meeting the needs of their membership.  For daily updates on the Walking Tour, visit www.mainecul.org.