to community members in Ludlow and 24 surrounding towns.
Currently there are 644 families , more than 1,611 individuals,
that receive food from the Ludlow Food Pantry.
Amity ~ Benedicta ~ Bridgewater ~ Cary ~ Crystal ~ Dyer Brook ~ Hammond ~ Hodgdon ~
~ Houlton ~ Island Falls ~ Linneus ~ Littleton ~ Ludlow ~ Merrill ~ Monticello ~ Mount Chase ~ Moro ~
~ New Limerick ~ Oakfield ~ Orient ~ Patten ~ Sherman ~ Smyrna ~ Stacyville ~ Wytopitlock
'Food Recipients' . . .
Please Help Us And Sign-Up To Receive Ludlow Food Pantry ' Email Alerts ! '
Food Recipients ...we request that you sign-up to receive ' LFP Email Alerts ' as we will be providing important food distribution schedule and food 'pick-up' procedure changes throughout the winter months.
Due to the high volume of phone calls that we receive each week, ...we are requesting you to provide us with your name and email address so that we may provide you with important information by email.
We are asking for your cooperation, . . . and please check your email Inbox for important LFP announcements !
If you have any specific questions, ...please scroll down and use the 'Questions & Comments' form below. We will respond and answer your questions.
. . . also 'Food Recipients' . . .
Help Us Reduce Traffic And Reduce Your Travel Costs
Please Sign-Up For A Free ' Rider-Profile ' !
Attention Food Recipients ...the number of 'food recipients' traveling to the Ludlow Food Pantry has dramatically increased !
Click Here to go to the 'Rider-Profile' page, scroll down, and complete the 'New Rider Sign-Up' ( second ) form .
Due to the high traffic volume and large number of cars in our parking area during food distribution days, ...we ask for your cooperation
and please sign-up for a 'Free Rider-Profile' at the RunAndGetIt website.
Be sure to enter 'Ludlow Food Pantry' in the 'Interests & Needs Information' box, ...and enter LFP's zipcode - > 04730
in the second 'Zip Code (work...or other frequent destination)' box (...along with the other required information in the form of course!).
If you have any specific questions, ...please scroll down and use the 'Questions & Comments' form below. We will respond and answer your questions.
Help for Area Food Pantries
By Sarah KomunieckiJun 08th 2009
Demand for services at food pantries goes up during summer months, when children are out of school.
Today, two food pantries in each county of the state received 500 dollars, thanks to grassroots campaigns at local credit unions.
There was applause as the Maine Credit Union League handed out the checks. "With the economy the way it is, you hear about fundraising challenges, but I tell you, people are more generous than ever," says Jon Paradise of the Maine Credit Union League.
The folks at Bucksport Community Concerns say it's the generosity of local people that help keep them open.
"Somebody will just walk in and give us 100 dollars. They won't tell us their names - they'll say 'We don't need any acknowledgement, just take it, and use it,'" say volunteers, Linda Hayward and Marsha Mushrall.
The need at their pantry remains steady this year.
"We have a turnover, different families who didn't come before find they have to come now," Mushrall says.
The Good Shepherd Food Bank says, as a whole, the need from their member pantries is still growing.
"Ours is growing by about 40 families a month. We've had a lot of layoffs in our town," says Ted Ivey, president
of the Town of Ludlow Food Pantry, which serves 18 communities.
The pantries will use the money to stock up at Good Shepherd, where every dollar buys $12.50 worth of food.
"For like 67 dollars you can get a truck of food. They provide a lot of food for us - it really stretches the dollars we have," say Hayward and Mushrall.
"It gives us more money to buy with," Ivey says.
Monday, the thanks went back to food pantry volunteers and the ability of others to help when needed.
"They feel fortunate in their own lives," says Mushrall, " and they want to help somebody else."
Small Town Feeds Many
By Karen DonatoHoulton Pioneer Times
Staff Writer
Published: April 22, 2009
The small town of Ludlow has witnessed the need to assist families with food, increase by leaps and bounds this winter. This small community of approximately 400 residents according to the last census in 2000 is serving 17 surrounding communities from their food pantry.
The initial list of families needing assistance was 26 in 2006. Today the pantry is providing food for 280 clients. Last month alone there were 39 new applications submitted to the town office. The pantry is operated by volunteers and is located at the Ludlow Town Office on the Ludlow Road. The Ludlow town manager, Marybeth Foley is also the pantry treasurer. She coordinates the effort with selectman and president of the food pantry, Ted Ivey.
Foley said, “Without the generosity of Ivey, we would not have the supply of food that we do.” Ivey volunteers his time and truck to pick up the food from as far away as Portland. With today’s fuel prices that is not a cheap trip. From documentation, it is costing the organization $1,000 a month just in fuel.
The food pantry is open Thursday and Friday afternoons from 3 p.m. until 6, once a month. The approved clients have a designated day to pick up food. The day of this interview, the pantry had just been restocked with 30,000 pounds of food. The food is available through a partnership with Caribou and the Catholic Charities of Maine, the Good Shepherd Food Bank, B&M Beans in Portland and the United States Department of Agriculture in Augusta. Hannaford Brothers and Shaw’s grocery stores also provide food. This particular week they had received chicken, potatoes and 2,200 loaves of bread. Some of the food is free and some of it is purchased in bulk. It all needs to be picked up from points south and transported to Ludlow.
In order for families to receive assistance they must meet state income guidelines. They must also not be receiving food from any other food pantry. Foley said that she has had some abuse of the system, but not a significant amount. Each qualifying family can receive 220-300 pounds of food per month, although the size of the family figures into the quantity. In addition to the food they sometimes receive personal hygiene products and household cleaners.
If a family finds itself in crisis when the food pantry is not open they can call the town office for assistance and food will be provided.
The members of the food pantry raise money to support the project through yard sales, grants, suppers, solicitations and donations from businesses and individuals and contributions from their own town of Ludlow. It takes 10 to 15 volunteers to unpack and organize each load of food. They try to hand out as much as possible when it is fresh and not keep too much in reserve to be out of date.
Last fall they built a 2,280 cubic square foot walk-in freezer. Much of the labor and materials were donated. “This was a great addition to the food pantry, said Ivey. It enables us to store meat and anything else that we can freeze in a spacious facility. Individual freezers made it almost impossible to handle the quantity of food we receive.”
Several local businesses have donated fuel assistance funds in return for Ivey to transport merchandise to locations south of Houlton when he is on a food run. Steve Parsons, a volunteer provides an online Web site: www.RunAndGetIt.com. This site connects people that need items transported south or picked up and brought north with the food pantry helping everyone get what they need and where they need it.
According to Foley the fuel and transportation expense could be eliminated if the various towns whose residents are benefiting from the pantry could donate approximately $1,000 a year.
The board members are looking for someone that might have a 14-foot by 16-foot box truck they would like to donate or sell at a reasonable price and any fuel assistance from individuals. They also need of a 10-foot by 15-foot gravity roller or motorized conveyor for easier delivery of the food from the truck into the building.
For more information or to volunteer contact the Ludlow Town Office, (207) 532-7743, Ted Ivey at email: ted.ivey@ludlowfoodpantry.org ,. . .or visit the Ludlow Food Pantry website: www.ludlowfoodpantry.org.
Send us your Questions & Comments, ...please complete and submit the form below.
If you do not have an 'email address', ...and would like one, ...please speak with one of the LFP officers, ... and we will be happy to provide one for you.
You can easily access and read your 'ludlowfoodpantry.org email' on any computer online !
Click Here to go to the online LFP email system, enter your username (your LFP email address), enter your password, and click on the 'Log-in' button.
Student Community Service at Ludlow Food Pantry
Students interested in providing 'community service' at the Ludlow Food Pantry
...please contact Ted Ivey at email: ted.ivey@ludlowfoodpantry.org
Thank You For Your Contributions !
