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On Thursday, three or four truckloads of food will be delivered to the Crossroads Ministries in Old Town. Thanks to the brothers at Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and their efforts in their second annual food drive this past weekend, over 3,000 pounds of food will be donated to the food pantry.
Many residents in the greater Orono-Old Town area found a plastic Hannaford bag on their door Saturday afternoon. Each bag had a note on it from the fraternity, explaining what they were doing and asking for food.
“On Sunday, we went back around and at probably 50 percent of the houses, the bags were on the front porches full and ready to pick up,” said Mike Chicoine, who headed his fraternity’s two-day drive. “We would then knock on the doors of the houses without food on the porch and ask if they wanted to donate. In most cases, people would donate and hadn’t put the food on the porch because they had not yet discovered their bags.”
Chicoine added that making contact with people accounted for an increase by more than half of last year’s total amount of 1,200.
“Last year, I had only like four people covering almost all of downtown Old Town,” Chicoine said. “This year, we had six start out there and additional guys who went there after they finished their smaller routes.”
Chicoine said there was a total of 20 to 25 brothers each day who helped in the effort. The brothers worked both days 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“During the drive, we found people were eager to get involved, and I received one guy’s business card, and he wants to be part of the promotion for it next year,” he said.
He said his fraternity also wanted to thank Hannaford for donating the bags and Burby and Bates liquor store for donating 192 cans of chicken noodle soup. The donation from Burby and Bates is nothing new. Last year, the store donated 1,000 packets of Ramen noodles.
Chicoine said the fraternity donated 276 pounds of pasta.
“This was an incentive for people to donate,” he said. “We said that we will match one pound for every 10 donated. We collected 2,750 pounds and donated 276.”
The grand total of food collected was 3,026 pounds. Chicoine said that some people donated clothes. Chicoine added that he and a few of his Phi Gamma Delta brothers also donated clothes.
“This may be something we add to the drive in years to come,” Chicoine said, “as it seems people are more than willing to part with some of the old stuff they never wear.”
Chicoine also said that in one of the bags they found a check for $50 made out to Crossroads.
Their goal was 2,000 pounds, but the 3,026 pounds of food that will be delivered around noon today to the food pantry in Old Town far exceeds that.
“I would consider this a huge success,” said Chicoine. “With roughly 1,500 pounds last year, we doubled our drive.”
All of the food collected was nonperishable, including vegetables, fruits, soups, broths, sauces, dressings, cookies, stuffing and pasta.
Chicoine said that while he is pleased with the effort he and his fraternity brothers put forth this year, he would still like to see a better result next year.
“This is our cornerstone community service project for the fall and hope to have it grow each year,” he said.
Chicoine would imagine that Crossroads Ministries would not mind that either.
“Last year, it was a tight fit getting all the food into Crossroads, so we have called ahead to warn them of what’s coming on Thursday.”
