The Merrymeeting Gleaners formed thanks to farmers and volunteers coming together to solve a problem - how to get surplus food in the fields harvested and in the hands of Mainers experiencing food insecurity. The food was beautiful, but it was more than the farmers had a market for or would require spending more in labor costs to harvest than made economic sense. Food insecurity can be a long term challenge or a short term challenge brought on by a crisis - a pandemic, job loss, medical emergency, strike - all things that are occurring in our communities right now.

Since starting in 2016 with Nate and Gabrielle’s beautiful Six River Farm in Bowdoinham and a handful of volunteers, the Merrymeeting Gleaners program of the Food Council has grown to include over 100 volunteers gleaning food year round in partnership with over 30 farms and farmers’ market vendors. In each of the past two years, over 50,000 lbs of fresh produce was shared through over 35 recipient sites in 14 towns. Kelly Davis, our Coordinator for the Merrymeeting Gleaners has done an incredible job building this program and building stronger and healthier communities through her leadership.

If you are one of the farms that donates produce, one of our recipient partners, or one of our volunteers - THANK YOU for all you are doing to help Mainers have access to healthy produce!

If you have been wondering what gleaning looks like and considering volunteering, here is a spotlight from Channel 8’s CommUNITY Champion program highlighting MFC’s Merrymeeting Gleaners program.

For more details, pictures, or to sign up to glean, see this page for more information.

Here’s to keeping our communities healthy through good eating and helping one another!