Penobscot County agencies joined forces for ‘Fill the Cruiser’ initiative

BANGOR, Maine (WABI) - Penobscot County agencies joined forces to raise food donations for their ‘Fill the Cruiser’ initiative.

Senior operator of Penobscot County Dispatch, Brittany Russell, thought of the idea as SNAP benefits were delayed and she saw community pantries serve at max capacity.

Russell called different departments around the county and the feedback to help was immediate.

“It’s the holiday season nobody wants to go without, especially this time of year and I partnered with the rest of the county and the sheriff’s department to drive people in,” said Russell. “Get a lot of donations so we can deliver to multiple different pantries throughout the county that we dispatch for. A lot of the donations that we made as far as canned goods and things like that, you don’t have to cook them so if people are unable to cook or have those issues, they’re able to still eat.”

When Russell reached out to the Penobscot County Sheriff’s office, Sheriff Troy Morton says jumping on this effort was a no brainer.

“I couldn’t think of a better program to join on,” said Morton. “Our dispatchers are critically important to all public safety, particularly in our office and when they wanted to partner on something that was so productive to the community at a time where people are really in need that we can reach out and provide basic needs through food to food pantries and individuals, we took on the challenge.”

Officers within the sheriff’s department took that challenge seriously as a few were individually responsible for raising spaghetti and pasta sauce, cereal, and peanut butter and jelly.

Team Spaghetti may have won that challenge but it’s the community overall who wins through this effort.

“It’s fantastic and honestly it’s our community partners who helped out,” said Camron Barrieau, staff sergeant for the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office.

“Hannaford Union Street volunteered and they matched anything we raised as well as one of my close friends Dakota DuPuis, I reached out to him and he matched with another $100 of pasta alone so it’s been great, the community loved it and it’s going to go toward a great cause.”

In result they raised over 600 pounds of food to distribute to area food pantries.

“It’s a great opportunity for those who do this job to see the public sometimes in a different light, in a very positive light and for them to see us in a positive light,” said Morton.

“Kindness is still out there and people are always willing to pass it along and that’s what we’ve done here,” said Russell.