BRUNSWICK, Maine — A locally based agency that provides food assistance to more than 1,200 families in need each year is going to be getting food donations from Shaw's Supermarkets after all.
Mid Coast Hunger Prevention says they heard from Shaw's last week that its Merrymeeting Plaza store would no longer be supplying the agency with perishable products such as meat and dairy that were close to sell-by dates.
Late this afternoon Shaw's released a statement saying that, because Mid Coast Hunger Prevention was not provided with prior notice, the company had decided to reinstate a Fresh Rescue program at its Brunswick store.
Shaw's corporate office announced back in 2013 that it would stop making donations to all Maine food banks, and has phased out the donations gradually. The company hasn't said why it chose to stop the program and says today's decision only applies to its Brunswick store.
Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Director Karen Parker says the loss would have left a big hole in the program's food supplies at a particularly difficult time of year. She says the program would have had to raise about $50,000 to cover the gap in food supplies.
