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The food drive was held and sponsored by Bill and Anna Gallant (and Allie) of Mail-It Unlimited to support the Community Outreach Services (COS) Food Pantry and the Animal Welfare Society both of Kennebunk.

“There was an incredible amount of support this year from the members of our community. We are so grateful,” said Beth Jones, the Executive Director of Community Outreach Services, “for the overwhelming response from our community.”

This year’s food drive surpassed last year’s totals. The total in pounds donated was one thousand sixty-nine point four (1,069.4lbs). This will definitely help replenish the food pantry shelves. There was in addition a total of $395 that was collected as donations to the two non-profit organizations. If you are interested in holding a food drive for COS, please get in contact with us at 604-0445 or info@coskennebunks.org.

Thank you to all those who gave for this very worthy cause.

Hosting a food drive can get your friends, family, co-workers, and community involved in the effort to solve hunger and help us provide a wider variety of food than we might otherwise have.

Before launching a food drive, please consider combining it with a fund drive, too. Here’s why:

If you go to the store and buy food to give to a food drive, every dollar you spend puts only a dollar’s worth of food into the charity food distribution system. But every dollar you give directly to COS gets multiplied by more than one, turning into more meals for someone in need thanks to the lower food costs we are able to get through Good Shepherd.

We get asked many times “What do you need for items in the Food Pantry?” While the needs may vary from time to time, here is a list of general food items that we package in meals for those in need of food who contact their town’s General Assistance Office :

• Meals in a can (stew, chili, soup)
• Tuna, chicken and canned meat.
• Canned foods with pop-top lids.
• Low-sugar cereals.
• 100% fruit juices in single serving boxes.
• Canned fruit packed in juice.
• Canned vegetables (low salt)
• Mayo (smaller jars)
• Canned ravioli
• Pancake syrup
• Instant mashed potatoes
• Canned hams(small ones)
• Jello, instant puddings
• Macaroni and cheese
• Pasta

You can contact us by phone at (207)604-0445 or visit our website at coskennebunks.org and fill out the information form and we will get in touch with you and even show you how you can run a food drive.

Congratulations to the Mildred L. Day School in Arundel.  Every year they hold a food drive to celebrate the One Hundred Days of School which happens in February.  Each classroom is assigned a food item like pasta, peanut butter, jelly, canned fruit, soup, cereal, etc.  The class is then challenged to collect at least 100 of the item to be donated to our COS food pantry.  The drive culminates in a school-wide assembly to which we are invited.  The school builds a huge tower of food to present to us along with certificates documenting how many items were collected by each classroom.

Once again, this year was a tremendous success. The school collected 1,629 items of school that weighed a total of 1,476 pounds.

Thanks to the M. L. Day School our pantry cupboard is loaded right now with wonderful things for our clients.  We are so thankful that the school staff, teachers, children, and parents support us in this impressive way.  Not only does it stock our shelves but it teaches the children about giving back to their community as well as the responsibility we all have to help the less fortunate.

As we were packing up the donations after the assembly to take to the food pantry, one 5^th grader approached me to say the he thought this school event was wonderful and awesome and he would miss it so much next year as he moves on to the middle school.  This speaks volumes for the school that the children love this event and will remember the excitement and fun of it as they move through life.  And this is how it should be, that we work to help those in need with a happy attitude.  M. L. Day you are doing a fabulous job with our kids.  Thank you!

Beth Jones, Executive Director

We are sorry to announce that Worthy Wednesday to support COS (February 17) at David’s KPT has been canceled. Please pass the word to your friends. We will keep you posted if there is a rescheduled date we are given.