KITTERY, Maine � A friendly competition among town departments resulted in Footprints Food Pantry taking home more than 1,000 food and personal care items Monday, three days ahead of Thanksgiving.
Pitted against each other in the month-long food drive were the Town Hall administrative staff, Kittery Police Department, Kittery Community Center, School Department, Rice Public Library and Department of Public Works. Ultimately, it was the Town Hall staff that secured the win, with police coming in at a close second.
Footprints, an entirely volunteer-run nonprofit located on Old Post Road, provides a free four-day supply of groceries, personal care items, and pet food every seven days for income-qualified residents of the Kittery, Kittery Point, and Eliot areas. This year, it's supplying 170 families with Thanksgiving dinners � a number that includes those helped by Fair Tide Housing and Kittery Holiday Baskets.
Karen Brown, Footprints' executive director, said she's noticed an increased need this year, as the pantry is helping approximately 40 more families for Thanksgiving than last year. She noted many new clients have lost jobs recently, and salaries are not going up � making it economically difficult for families to stay afloat in today's costly world.
Clients will continue to pick up their Thanksgiving dinners through Wednesday. In addition to the turkey, Brown said they're offering rotisseries, "tofurkeys," stuffing, gravy, green beans, pumpkin and apple pies, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions and carrots. They also provide ingredients for a sweet potato pie, and green bean casserole with crispy onion rings.
"This is wonderful, this is lovely," said Brown said of Monday's donation. "The generosity of this community is amazing."
Brown said while Footprints is able to purchase turkeys at a discounted price, but at least "40 turkeys have been dropped off in the past week" by community members.
Kittery Town Manager Kendra Amaral said she'd done a "City Hall challenge" food drive of sorts in a community she previously worked in. "It's a great way to connect with the community," she said. "And we really do have generous staff who are committed to this town."
Some employees cleaned out their cupboards, while others went on shopping sprees, said Kittery Town Clerk Karen Estee.
"The competition made it just a little extra fun," said Suzanne Esposito, executive assistant to the town manager. "It was a town-wide thing."
She likened it to the TV game show "Supermarket Sweep," as she went through the grocery store and picked out everything she would like to eat herself.
The large donation included everything from toilet paper, to peanut butter, to canned vegetables.
Amaral noted she'd be interested in doing a similar fundraiser again next year, but during the pantry's "dry season." It's often said that food pantries are flooded with donations during the holiday season, but that flow does not continue all year long.
During the month of October, Brown noted, she was worried, as the pantry garage "was looking pretty slim."
Footprints is currently serving an average of 87 children per week, and a total of 900 adults per month, according to Brown. The pantry is open Tuesday evenings from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., and Wednesdays from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
