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The Gorham Food Pantry offers food assistance at no cost to any Gorham resident in need.

 

Board of Directors

 

Diane O’Neill - President      Dede Perkins -  Vice-President      Dick Peterson - Treasurer     Destiny Cook -  Secretary

 

Chris Moody    Jen Banks    Brenda Caldwell    Marsha Traille   Rob Roy   Janet McLeod     Audrey Laskey   Heather Whitaker

 

Staff

Bill and Wendy Couch -  Pantry Directors

 Kris Clough - Inventory  Coordinator

 

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In June 1997, a group gathered at First Parish Congregational Church to talk about the need for an emergency food distribution channel in Gorham.  At that time, most churches had emergency food reserves for parishioners in need. First Parish and St. Anne’s had more requests than they were able to handle. Other churches were rarely asked for food and had rusted cans on their shelves.  After discussing the situation, the group decided to band together to more effectively serve their parishioners and anyone else who was hungry in Gorham. Under the auspices of the Gorham Ecumenical Commission, they formed a new organization, The Gorham Ecumenical Food Pantry, dedicated to the collection and distribution of food in Gorham.

 

With initial funding from the Gorham Ecumenical Commission, the Gorham Ecumenical Food Pantry opened at St. Anne’s Church in September of 1997.  In the beginning, churches collected money specifically earmarked for the Pantry. First Parish donated their Christmas Eve collection. School Street Methodist donated loose change from the weekly collections. In addition, at that time, the churches supplied the majority of food that was distributed.

 

“If we had ten jars of peanut butter and a bag of chicken nuggets to divide up, we thought we were doing good,” said Fran Doucette, former Director of the Gorham Food Pantry. “We ran that way for the first three or four years.”  The Pantry was originally open only on Thursday mornings from 9-11. Mary Jane Milan started a once-a-month Wednesday evening program the following spring. Despite the fact that the Pantry had no resources to advertise and clients came solely from word of mouth, demand grew.

 

By 1999, “We started shopping at Good Shepherd Food Bank,” said Doucette. “Once we hit sixty families a month, we needed more people to make decisions.”  The Gorham Ecumenical Commission sent notices to pastors of the churches active in the Pantry and asked them to nominate directors for the Pantry’s newly formed board. At that time, six churches actively supported the organization: First Parish UCC, St. Anne’s Catholic Church, Cressey Rd. Methodist, South Gorham Baptist, North Gorham UCC, and Little Falls Baptist. The original board of directors came from these churches.

 

In 2001, the original Board of Directors established a mission statement and by-laws. They ran fundraisers to raise awareness and money for the Pantry.  The GFP became a nonprofit organization with a tax-exempt status under section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

 

By 2003, the Pantry had outgrown the space at St. Anne’s Church. The Board of Directors began to look for a new, larger space to serve the hungry citizens of Gorham. They didn’t know it at the time, but it would be years before a solution presented itself.

 

By Spring 2008, the Pantry had been awarded $44,000 from the Community Block Grant program. The Town of Gorham had donated a used portable. St. Anne’s Church and the Catholic Diocese offered a $1/year Evergreen Lease to locate the portable at the far right end of the church’s parking lot.  With nearly all the elements in place, the Board of Directors initiated a local capital campaign to raise $25,000. The money was needed to help move, restore, and renovate the portable, as well as provide money for additional food and operating expenses.  The residents of Gorham overwhelmingly and generously supported the fund drive so that by the end of January 2009, the organization, now renamed the Gorham Food Pantry, moved into its new space where volunteers would be better able to distribute food to Gorham residents in need.

 

Currently, the GFP provides food assistance to over 100 local families each month.  Our current client roles include over --- individuals.

 

The Board of Directors would like to thank everyone, past and present, for donating their time and money, so no one in our town needs to go hungry. Gorham is truly a community that serves its neighbors.

 

Attendees of first Food Pantry meeting in June, 1997

Rev. Linwood Arnold, School Street Methodist (now Cressey Rd. Methodist)

Fran Doucette, School St. Methodist (now Cressey Rd. Methodist)

Barbara Hawkes, So. Gorham Baptist Church

Chris Kimball, St. Anne’s Catholic Church

Deb Matthews, First Parish UCC

Sue Morrow, First Parish UCC

Deb Smith, St. Anne’s Catholic Church

 

Original Board of Directors

Maynard Charron

Cherry Finck

Ernie Manderson

Bob Minor

Rev. Phil Shearman

Debbie Smith

Paul Willis

Fran Doucette (Pantry Director from 1997 – 2017)