Building Capacity for the Future Footprints Food Pantry in Kittery

Southern Maine may be known for its amazing restaurants and beautiful beaches, yet there are many people who face hunger, even though it may not be visible. According to one of our partners, Footprints Food Pantry in Kittery, roughly eight percent of the population in Kittery, Eliot, York, and South Berwick live near or below the poverty line. That is nearly 3,000 people.

Footprints opened its doors in 1992 and has only seen its numbers increase over the years, with Executive Director Megan Shapiro-Ross reporting a fifty percent increase in the number of neighbors visiting the pantry in 2022 alone.

Megan believes that “the charitable food system has been serving individuals food in the same manner for years. The Emergency Food Assistance Program was designed for that, emergency food assistance. Yet, this has become an outdated model that has huge value to our society and has fed many but is not a long-term solution to ending hunger.” Which is why Footprints is embarking on a new, collaborative project to address a long-term solution to end hunger and eradicate poverty.

In collaboration with another local nonprofit, Footprints will be creating a resource hub called Mainspring that will offer wraparound services—including housing a collection of social service agencies that will provide individuals a coordinated entry process and a one-stop shop for assistance.

To make this dream a reality, Footprints applied for and was awarded $181,500 in the form of the Food Bank’s Capacity Building Grant. With the grant, they were able to complete the pre-development phase and launch their capital campaign for Mainspring.

Capacity Building Grants

The Food Bank is proud to fund projects that partners identify as having the most potential to impact their work. We’ve helped partners add cold storage, purchase vehicles, offer volunteer stipends to support home delivery, and buy tools to increase the food choices. By honoring our partners’ expertise in the challenges facing their communities, the Food Bank best leverages our resources for impactful solutions at a local level.