Solidarity Harvest Delivers Nearly 1,700 Thanksgiving Food Baskets to Mainers in Need

PHOTO: Volunteers pack Thanksgiving food baskets in Brewer this week.

Union members from across the state are among the 400 volunteers helping to pack and deliver about 1,675 Thanksgiving food boxes to Mainers in need as part of Food AND Medicine’s (FAM) annual Solidarity Harvest. In addition to distributing boxes in Eastern and Central Maine, a Uhaul loaded with 266 boxes will travel to unions in Southern Maine to distribute boxes this weekend.

"It's significant for the 1,675 families who are gonna have a Thanksgiving meal when many of them would not," Eastern Maine Labor Council and FAM Executive Director President Jack McKay told News Center on Tuesday. "But there's a lot of other solutions. There's a lot of other people doing good work, kind work, generous work.”

Each of the boxes contains 30 pounds of food including locally sourced produce, apple cider, stuffing and a turkey. FAM and the Eastern Maine Labor Council launched the Solidarity Harvest in 2003 in response to the closure of the Eastern Fine Paper Mill in Brewer, which left many families without jobs. The event is a collaboration between unions, farmers, faith communities, businesses, and volunteer organizations to provide food to families and laid-off workers in need.

"Right now, with the prices of food and everything, it's kind of hard to get like what we need to put food on the table," volunteer Troy Hood told News Center. "So, we've been basically relying on the local food pantries and stuff like that."

Because one of the organization’s nonprofit partners was not able to cover the entire cost of all of the turkeys this year, FAM needs more donations to cover the cost of Solidarity Harvest. Please donate to support this wonderful cause if you can.

“Unions are the bedrock of the program and have been super supportive of the program,” said McKay at the Maine AFL-CIO Executive Board meeting Wednesday.