Morris Farm and Chewonki hold forum on food security

“Local Food, Local Hunger” will engage community members in a constructive dialogue on securing healthy food for all residents
Fri, 02/20/2015 - 11:00am

The Morris Farm in Wiscasset, a working farm and education center that promotes sustainable agriculture and stewardship, and Chewonki, an environmental education organization that promotes sustainable living, are sponsoring a forum on food security in Lincoln County.

The forum, entitled “Local Food, Local Hunger,” is open to the public and will take place on March 7 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Chewonki Center for Environmental Education, 485 Chewonki Neck Road in Wiscasset.

According to Feeding America, 4,430 people in Lincoln County are food-insecure — meaning they do not have the resources to put together three balanced meals per day.

Yet 39 percent of food-insecure individuals earn too much to qualify for SNAP assistance or food stamps. The problem is especially acute among families with children. According to the Maine Children’s Alliance, during 2014, nearly 2,000 students in Lincoln County, 45.4 percent of all students, were eligible to receive subsidized school lunches.

The forum will address the current state of food insecurity in Lincoln County among families, individuals, children and seniors. Combining presentations, panel discussions with experts and stakeholders, and breakout sessions, the event will forge connections among nonprofit and government nutrition-related agencies, educational institutions and students, farmers and growers, food pantries, and food-insecure individuals.

Mark Winne will deliver the keynote address. Winne is a co-founder of the City of Hartford Food Policy Commission, the Connecticut Food Policy Council, End Hunger Connecticut! and the national Community Food Security Coalition. He is a 2001 recipient of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary’s Plow Honor Award and the author of “Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty,” among other books.

Speakers and panelists will also include Barbara Murphy, coordinator for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension’s Harvest for Hunger, which distributes fresh produce to food pantries statewide; Mary Turner of Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program, which operates a food bank, food pantry and soup kitchen serving over 1,200 Midcoast families in need each year; Sara Trunzo of Veggies for All, which has grown, harvested, and distributed 75,000 pounds of vegetables to 1,500 food-insecure families since 2010; and Anni Pat McKenney, Healthy Lincoln County, which provides free, nutritious meals to children through their Summer Food Service Program.

Lunch will be served, and the fee for attendance is $17, which covers lunch and snack breaks. A subsidized rate of $5 is available.

For more information, or to register for the forum, visit www.morrisfarm.org.