skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Dig Those Gardens: Maine Seniors Fight Food Insecurity

play audio
Play

Monday, May 19, 2014   

BANGOR, Maine - Food insecurity is a problem that affects about 15 percent of Maine's population. It means people do not have access to enough nutritious food on a daily basis. A program involving volunteers age 50 and older is digging in to help.

The ENCore Leadership Corps each year trains about 250 older adults in a variety of volunteer areas. Jennifer Crittenden, who helps run ENCorps out of the University of Maine Center on Aging, says the focus of the Food Security Initiative is training people to aid those eligible for food assistance programs, helping out at food banks and pantries, and getting dirt underneath their fingernails.

"We have volunteers who work on community gardens," Crittenden says, "and this is the time of year when they're starting to think about setting those up. It's a great chance to bring community members together, and also to grow some fresh food that can be given out to families locally."

Across the state, more than one in five children is food insecure. Rural counties such as Somerset and Franklin have the highest rates, but Cumberland and York counties struggle with 19 percent child-food-insecurity rates.

Crittenden says helping fight hunger taps into a lot of baby boomers' desires to give back to their communities.

"Food insecurity touches Mainers of all ages. In particular, older adults and children are at most risk of really experiencing food insecurity. It is definitely an issue that hits home for many people," she explains.

ENcore works in partnership with the Maine Community Foundation. The Food Security Initiative was launched in part with funding from the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation.

Crittenden says the recession and unpredictable layoffs and job elimination all have stressed the state's food banks and pantries.

"What we're trying to do is help give our volunteers the tools they need to successfully keep food pantries open, to look at sustaining those options as an emergency food source in their community," she adds.

ENCorps holds its annual Summit this weekend at Sebasco Harbor Resort, Phippsburg, where food security issues will be a focus of the community work discussions and networking.




get more stories like this via email

more stories
Iowa families can apply for up to $7,600 a year for private school costs. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An ethics committee in the Republican-led Iowa House has dismissed a complaint filed by a group of community activists against a state lawmaker for hi…


play sound

Each spring, hundreds of thousands of California high school seniors have to figure out if they can afford to go to college in the fall - and two new …

Health and Wellness

play sound

A health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire is leaving Alzheimer's patients and their families with few options for treatment. Patients facing …


South Dakota ranks 49th in the country for its contribution to indigent legal defense costs, according to a 2023 report from the Indigent Legal Services Task Force. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

South Dakota is creating an Office of Indigent Legal Services after House Bill 1057 passed the Legislature with nearly unanimous support this month…

Environment

play sound

A Knoxville-based environmental group is voicing concerns over what it sees as an increasing financial strain imposed on taxpayers by nuclear weapons …

Environment

play sound

A bipartisan law set to take effect this summer prohibits foreign adversaries from buying Hoosier farmland. The signature of Gov. Eric Holcomb was …

Social Issues

play sound

Today, people across Arizona are voting in the Presidential Preference Election, a chance for registered Democrats and Republicans to choose their …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021