Maine Credit Union’s Ending Hunger Walking Tour comes to Piscataquis County

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — Recently the 13th annual Maine Credit Unions’ Ending Hunger Walking Tour made a stop in Dover-Foxcroft, one of three communities in Piscataquis County that the tour visited. Brenda Davis, one of the state’s leading ending hunger advocates, has been partnering with Maine’s credit unions to coordinate the Ending Hunger Walking Tour for the past 13 years.

Photo courtesy of Maine Credit Union League

    WALKING TO END HUNGER — Brenda Davis, right, and the Maine Credit Unions’ Ending Hunger Walking Tour are welcomed to Maine Highlands FCU’s Dover-Foxcroft office by Candice Qualey. Davis, one of the state’s leading end hunger advocates, walked throughout the state from Oct. 24 to Dec. 3 to raise awareness about the issue of hunger. The stop in Dover-Foxcroft was one of three communities the tour visited in Piscataquis County. A food pantry in each community visited also received a contribution during the visit, including the Living Word Community Food Cupboard in Dover-Foxcroft; Guilford Economic Partnership Food Pantry and the Milo Ecumenical Food Pantry.

    The purpose of the walk is to raise awareness and distribute some of the statewide funds raised by the Maine Credit Unions’ Campaign for Ending Hunger. In 2013, the Maine Credit Unions’ Campaign for Ending Hunger raised a record-setting $513,000 and has raised $5.3 million since 1990.
    The contribution to the three Piscataquis County food pantries will help each pantry purchase approximately $1,500 worth of food each through the Good Shepherd Food Bank. Food pantries in Dover-Foxcroft, Guilford and Milo received contributions.
    This year’s tour will be visiting the most communities, and covering the most miles in its history. The walk is expected to encompass more than 1,500 miles, with approximately 750 of that on foot, and visit a record-setting 83 communities from Kittery to Madawaska. The tour will visit every Maine county for the seventh consecutive year. In addition to contributing funds to Davis’ food pantry, which is one of the largest in Eastern Maine, the Maine Credit Unions’ Campaign for Ending Hunger will contribute to a food pantry in each of the 83 communities the tour visits.
    “In our journeys across Maine, we continue to hear compelling stories from people that are having a difficult time,” explained Jon Paradise, vice president of Governmental and Public Affairs for the Maine Credit Union League. “The walk is about not only making a financial difference but also bringing attention to the fact that nearly 15 percent of Maine people are food insecure, including one in four Maine children,”