The food pantry Project FEED, which was facing a temporary closure of over a year due to upcoming construction at its operating space at Woodfords Corner, has found a new location from which to distribute food in 2025 at 640 Brighton Ave. When operating out of its former location at Woodfords Congregational Church, it provided free food to 60 food-insecure Cumberland County households per week.

At the start of October, Project FEED (Food Emergency Exchange Depot) had to cease operating due to the start of construction at the church, which will last over a year. The church sold half of its building to Community Housing of Maine, which plans to turn it into affordable housing units, but has promised Project FEED space in the building once the work is complete.

Throughout the past year, Project FEED volunteers had searched for a temporary space the group could move into and continue operations during construction. Space requirements and limited funds made the search difficult, and by the end of September, Project FEED was still uncertain of its future.

However, at the last minute, a suite at 640 Brighton Ave. became financially feasible with the support of the Beloved Community Fund, which granted Project FEED funds for its first year of rent. The new space meets the requirements of the pantry’s operation. It has over 1,200 square feet of space, parking for clients, no stairs and meets Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility standards.

The Beloved Community Fund is a collaboration between three Portland churches: Trinity Episcopal Church, Williston-Immanuel United Church and HopeGateWay. The collective fund was known as the Cora Brown Foundation until it was renamed the Beloved Community Fund this month. The foundation has been aiding those in the Portland area who are hungry or in need since after the Civil War, said the Rev. Peter Swarr of Trinity Episcopal Church, who co-manages the foundation.

“It goes back to the roots of what this group’s been about, which is feeding people,” said Swarr. “And so for us, it felt like a no-brainer, that this is a logical use of these funds to keep feeding people.”

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Swarr was connected to Project FEED when a food pantry volunteer who attended Trinity Episcopal Church asked him about supporting the pantry as it sought a new location with limited funds that did not make renting a space feasible.

“I said, ‘Well, what if we covered the vast majority of your rental costs?’ Which, of course, changed things for them, because I don’t think that they could have swung the sort of budget without an outside organization coming in and helping to take care of that,” he said.

The city of Portland approved changing the zoning of 640 Brighton Ave. such that Project FEED could operate there for a year. The area was zoned as residential/professional, and Project FEED falls under general services as a food pantry. Project FEED board Chair Steve Gray is in the process of filing paperwork with the city in order to receive a waiver and make the pantry an officially allowed use.

Gray said Project FEED anticipates moving into the space at the start of November and setting up to receive clients and distribute food at the start of December. The organization will reach out to clients it served at its original location and alert them to the new site beforehand, he said.

Overall, Gray expressed relief that the search for a temporary location was over and Project FEED would be able to continue feeding the community.

“We were trying other avenues that weren’t quite as nice as this,” Gray said. “We were working to get going as soon as we could. And I have no idea how the others would have worked out, but this one is so much nicer than at least one of them.

“It’s really very, very heartening,” he said.

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