Senator Collins Visits Van Buren Food Box Giveaway

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (WAGM) - Thousands of food boxes have already been given away throughout the state of Maine.. Senator Susan Collins, one of the sponsor of the Farmers to Family Food Boxes program, got to see the Giveaway in action. News Source 8′s Anna Soderberg has the story from Van Buren.

Senator Collins says, as a part of the Coronavirus bill, that the Farmers to Family Food Boxes program was intended to help farmers who have lost markets because of the pandemic, as well as, aid families in avoiding food insecurities.

“So, when the contracts first came out for this program, I was alarmed because there was no contract anywhere in the state of Maine, Maine was completely left out” says Senator Collins.

After reaching out to the US Secretary of Agriculture the bidding process was reopened

“It was reopened, and I am very pleased to say that Maine Farmers Exchange in Presque Isle won a more than 2.1-million-dollar contract to put together food boxes to be distributed throughout Northern Maine from July 1st through August 31st. And this will be extremely helpful to farmers who have lost markets and very helpful to families to avoid being hungry and avoid food insecurity” says Senator Collins.

56 thousand boxes of food will be given out statewide into August... The next County giveaway will take place July 28th at the St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Houlton.