I read with dismay that yet another resource for the poor, the East Winthrop Baptist Food Pantry, will close due to institutional policy changes (“Maine food pantry closing blamed on Hannaford policy change,” March 21).

The pantry depended completely on Hannaford supermarkets for its food supply, so 100 East Winthrop families lost access to free food due to simultaneous decisions by Hannaford to deal exclusively through Good Shepherd Food Bank and by Good Shepherd to reject the food pantry’s application.

I can understand Hannaford’s wish to rationalize its surplus food disbursement and Good Shepherd’s policy of strict per capita distribution (as opposed to the East Winthrop policy of “take what you need”).

And yet, at the end, the well-fed and well-employed have once again decided to tell the poor and hungry, “Yes, we have food we cannot use ourselves, but you may not have it.”

William Lee
Portland

 


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