HARRISON — During its distribution day on Oct. 25 the Harrison Food Bank supplied 337 families with a week’s worth of groceries and delivered the same to another 141 households in western Maine.

“It’s going up every week,” said Operations Manager Sandy Swett. “And the amount of food that we’re getting is going down. Available produce, it’s not good. We’re out of the growing season so we’re not getting it from local farms and now everything’s cutting back.”

According to Swett, the pipeline of surplus food from major grocers is starting to tighten. Earlier this year Shaw’s supermarket in Westbrook was closed, and then in September the company announced that its Scarborough location would cease operations.

“Other stores have said their rescue food is way down,” Swett added. “Because of food shortages. Where we were filling our trucks when we would pick up, now we’re only filling them half-way. We’re seeing less canned vegetable donation. We will end up buying canned vegetables for Thanksgiving meals.

“Our produce is just not where it needs to be. We are going to run out,” she said, gesturing toward half empty storage shelves. “It’s scary.”

Swett is grateful that local support continues as the Harrison Food Bank prepares for the holidays.

Last month she said that Ten Lakes Chiropractic Clinic of Bridgton sponsored a Thanksgiving meal fund-raiser, donating $10 for each patient and collecting money and food donations from the public. In one day the practice raised $1,886 in cash and took in non-perishable food to help supply the food bank.

Swett anticipated a Pie Tree Orchard delivery this week with an end-of-season supply. Maine Coast Fisherman’s Association donates the food bank with seafood caught by Maine fishermen through its Fishermen Feeding Maine program. Tyson Foods of Portland provides frozen meat by the pallet.

And for the second year Jim Schmidt, a Rotarian from North Yarmouth, has donated locally raised beef, pork and lamb he purchased at the Cumberland Fair’s 4-H Youth Auction in September in the memory of Sheila Rollins of Bridgton, who tirelessly worked to fight food insecurity in Maine.

“Jim did it again,” Swett said. “He bought one beef cow, five pigs and six lambs at the auction, paying $19,500. And then he paid another $4,200 for butchering services and donated it all.”

Cars continue to roll through the parking lot every Tuesday. Food bank volunteers are bracing for even more demand as cold weather sets in. Requests for deliveries are on the rise and Swett currently does not have enough drivers to meet demand.

She makes deliveries using her person vehicle to homes in the area, which is time that takes her away from networking for resources with businesses, organizations and agencies. She told the story of a recent delivery that took her into a Norway neighborhood.

An elderly woman saw Swett dropping off food for a neighbor and approached if she, too, might be added to the delivery route. While the woman had transportation, she is responsible for the care of her husband; driving to Harrison and leaving him alone would be a stressful burden. Swett agreed to include her, a gesture that brought tears to the woman’s eyes.

“We get more calls every day. This morning already a doctor’s office called to make arrangements for a local delivery,” Swett said. “I keep getting them, from case worders and doctors. An Auburn church called to see if we could start supplying them to help 30 people.”

Besides managing food shortages, volunteer drivers have dwindled as many who could give their time during COVID closings have returned to their routines, and the price of gas has cut the ability for others to drive long distances.

“We can use at least two additional delivery volunteers,” she said. “We just had a minivan donated and I have someone who will drive it, but it needs a few thousand dollars of repairs first.”

Shortfalls aside, Swett is ahead of the crunch this year organizing Thanksgiving meals. In the past procuring 400-500 turkeys has been an impossible task but more recently a corporate benefactor has made it a tradition to supply Harrison Food Bank, along with its employees. The Ten Lakes Chiropractic Clinic’s donation will help fund Hannaford gift cards and fill boxes with non-perishables. Suppliers in The County will pitch in with potatoes as needed.

Swett is already looking ahead toward leaner times, applying for grants, working the phones and networking across the state in search of edible and financial resources. Food shortages and a lack of volunteers promise to be major challenges this winter, but the Harrison Food Bank will continue to feed more and more Mainers experiencing food insecurity.

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