AROOSTOOK COUNTY, Maine — When local schools closed their doors in mid-March to diminish the spread of COVID-19, the Presque Isle Boys and Girls Club — a program of the Aroostook Band of Micmacs — knew that it would step up to help children and families have greater access to meals.
While school departments across Aroostook County have provided free lunches every weekday, Boys and Girls Club staff members and volunteers from other organizations have cooked and delivered hundreds of evening meals and Sunday lunches.
They have seen the number of delivered meals increase from 150 a day to 550, with more people expected to be added to the list. On average, 250 meals every day go toward elderly individuals who are self-isolating, but that number is expected to increase as well.
Corey Tilley, unit director for the Boys and Girls Club, said on Wednesday, April 8, that the meal delivery program, which they have named County Cares, has grown mostly through word of mouth.
“As people learned about what we were doing, more and more began to call us and ask if we can deliver to them,” Tilley said. “We’re delivering to nine towns now, from Connor Township and New Sweden all the way down to Littleton.”
Other towns added to the list of deliveries have included Presque Isle, Fort Fairfield, Washburn, Caribou, Mars Hill and Easton. In some areas, volunteers bring food to a drop-off site that people can come to.
In other towns they deliver straight to peoples’ doors. To maintain social distancing, volunteers ring doorbells and leave packages at the doorsteps for individuals to bring inside.
Tilley noted that the number of home deliveries are higher in towns situated farther from grocery stores. Connor Township and New Sweden, for instance, see an average of 70 packages per day, while Mars Hill sees around 60. Presque Isle and Fort Fairfield receive most of the deliveries currently, with 400 and 100 packages per day, respectively.
“We expect our number of meals delivered to exceed 600 by next week,” Tilley said.
The Boys and Girls Club is collaborating with the Aroostook Band of Micmacs administration and programs such as housing, food, health and elder services, as well as the Freedom Church, Little Feathers Head Start and Tweedie IGA stores.
While Boys and Girls Club and Micmac staff have alternated as cooks and delivery drivers, Little Feathers provides their bus for deliveries and Freedom Church prepares Sunday meals and delivers to the Mars Hill region. IGA stores have provided much of the needed food used to prepare meals.
The meals have ranged from pasta like chop suey and spaghetti to barbecued chicken and chilli, along with special treats like homemade bread and muffins. For Easter Sunday, volunteers from the Club and Freedom Church will prepare and deliver meals that will include homemade chicken, stuffing and brownies.
To ensure they follow social distancing guidelines, the Boys and Girls Club has limited their cooking staff and volunteers to only three or four people at a time, with everyone alternating on a set schedule and keeping six feet apart from one another. Everyone wears gloves and protective masks and prepares food packages while maintaining social distancing.
“We’re not taking any chances,” Tilley said. “Everyone who comes into the building fills out a medical form to make sure they don’t have symptoms and we sanitize the building every morning and evening.”
Though social distancing has resulted in Boys and Girls Clubs canceling their in-person programming and not seeing community members like they used to, Tilley said their current efforts have resulted in many rewarding and inspiring moments.
For many individuals who are socially isolated, he said, seeing a volunteer walk up their driveway to deliver food has become a highlight of their day.
“There was one older lady from New Sweden who called us to say, ‘It’s so nice to see that young man come to my door every day’,” Tilley said. “We’re letting the community know that even though we can’t be with them, we are here for them.”
