United Way of Southern Maine is thrilled to announce that we collected 28,595 meals at this year’s United We CAN Food Drive + Sculpture Contest. Nearly 40% of households in Maine are struggling to afford the basic cost of living, leading to challenges like food insecurity. The food collected will be distributed to pantries, schools, and partners across Southern Maine through Wayside Food Programs and Youth Full Maine.
“Many families in our community rely on food pantries and this generous drive helps keep those pantry shelves stocked,” said Don Morrison, Operations Manager, Wayside Food Programs. “It’s incredible to see so many community members and organizations support this effort every year.”
We are grateful to the community members and 20+ companies that organized drives, donated needed items, or provided logistic or financial support for the food drive to make this event a success:
- Atlantic Federal Credit Union
- Bangor Savings Bank
- Bank of America
- Bissell Brothers
- CCB, Inc.
- Dead River Company
- Empeople Credit Union
- Gorham Savings Bank
- Hannaford Supermarkets
- IDEXX
- L.L.Bean
- KeyBank
- Machias Savings Bank
- MaineHealth
- MaineHealth Maine Medical Center
- Maine Trust for Local News
- Martin’s Point Health Care
- M&T Bank
- Northern Light Health
- RTS Packaging
- Thompson’s Point
- Trader Joe’s
- Rwanda Bean Company
- WEX Inc.
- Zachau Construction
This annual event was held at Thompson’s Point in Portland. Fourteen local companies competed by building larger-than-life CAN-structions onsite. In the end, they dismantle the structures and donate all the cans, providing a tremendous amount to the food drive efforts.
2024 Can Sculpture Contest Award Winners:
- Small + Mighty Award (best sculpture by a small business with under 100 employees): RTS Packaging
- Rookie Award (best sculpture by a new team–1st or 2nd year): Gorham Savings Bank
- Best Meal Award (best sculpture with the ingredients for a well-balanced, healthy meal): Dead River Company
- Big + Mighty (best sculpture by a small business with more than 100 employees): CCB. Inc.
- Community Choice (Event attendees cast votes for their favorite sculpture): WEX
- Best in Show (Judges select the best in show based on the design (originality and creativity), craft (balance, proportions, detail, and use of space), and amount of food collected): WEX
This year’s panel of judges include Katie Brown at Youth Full Maine; Jon Chrisos, WMTW-Channel 8 Anchor; Don Morrison, Operations Manager at Wayside Food Programs; Steve Smith, President and CEO of L.L.Bean and United Way’s 2024 Campaign Chair, and Lisa DeSisto, CEO and Publisher of Maine Trust for Local News and 2024 Campaign Vice Chair.
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