Solidarity Harvest feeds over 1,600 Maine families this Thanksgiving

BREWER, Maine (WABI) - Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and local organizations are coming together to make sure everyone has a full plate.

Since starting Solidarity Harvest 23 years ago, Food AND Medicine Director Jack McKay says what began with packing 135 Thanksgiving boxes for local families has grown by over 1,000%.

Beginning in 2002, the Brewer organization has partnered with local unions, churches and more to fundraise. That money is used to purchase fall staples like fresh produce, turkey, bread and more from local growers and producers.

“Since the beginning when we started, we didn’t want to see small farmers losing their jobs also, because this was really about layoffs,” describes McKay. “There was a decision early on is we want this money that we’ve raised to go to local farms, to local food producers, so that they can be resilient, because a society that can grow its own food is a good thing.”

Prentice Grassi, owner and operator of Villageside Farm in Freedom, has been providing 5 to 6 thousand pounds of vegetables to Solidarity Harvest annually for the past 16 years.

“That’s just been a priority for the Solidarity Harvest, that they purchase the produce from area farmers at fair market value. So it’s been a good account for us over the years,” Grassi comments. “But we really believe, like Food AND Medicine, that farmers and farming can be really a part of a solution improving the lives of working class people and in this region.”

This year, Solidarity Harvest will be shipping 1,675 boxes of Thanksgiving meals to families in need across the state.

To ensure all Mainers have what they need, organizers say it’s all about coming together for a common goal.

“A neat part of Solidarity Harvest is all the different people who volunteer and we get church groups and union locals and Boy Scouts and all sorts of different people,” says McKay on volunteer turnout.

As volunteers sorted and prepared boxes Wednesday, Ashlynn Ward was there representing the Maine State Nurses Association, who have been involved with Solidarity Harvest since its conception.

“That’s the core of nursing, is being compassionate and caring and that’s what our union does as well,” Ward describes. “It helps support our community in ways outside of the walls of the hospital.”

Support, McKay says, that’s needed more than ever: “This has been our most trying. We’re giving 207 to federal workers who are furloughed. Baileyville is doing a layoff down in Washington County, and that’s 161 baskets. There’s been groups that we have given 2 baskets in the past and we’re not able to this year.”

Solidarity Harvest is just one way Food AND Medicine assist those in the Bangor community and beyond.

To learn more, visit their website.