NEWS & UPDATES
Maine activists, acclaimed film call for action to end U.S. hunger
PORTLAND – On Tuesday night, 452 people stood in line for their dinner at Preble Street — more than twice the number who gathered hours later to call for an end to hunger in the United States. For Donna Yellen, director of the Preble Street Maine Hunger Initiative, those numbers are telling. More than 200,000
Sundance film screenings take aim at hunger problem
PORTLAND – The Preble Street Maine Hunger Initiative on Tuesday will host the Portland premiere of a critically acclaimed film about hunger in America. “A Place at the Table,” which was a selection of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, tells the true stories of three people who don’t know where their next meal will come
Anti-hunger film to screen in Portland
PORTLAND – Preble Street’s Maine Hunger Initiative is hosting the Portland premiere of "A Place at the Table," a documentary film on food insecurity, on Tuesday, April 30, at 7 p.m., at Nickelodeon Cinemas, 1 Temple St. An official selection of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, "A Place at the Table" tells the real-life stories
PFD launches safety campaign following fire death
The Portland Fire Department is partnering with social service agencies to reach out to the city’s homeless population and educate them about fire safety. Fire Chief Jerome LaMoria, members of the PFD and various agencies began handing out flameless candles and fire prevention pamphlets Tuesday outside the Preble Street Resource Center. The outreach and education
Hunger isn’t getting the attention it should
The stock market has recovered. Home prices are starting to recover and jobs numbers are creeping back, if at a glacial pace. But for many Mainers, the Great Recession of 2008 has never ended. If you were poor before the recession, you probably still are. If you were middle-income in 2008, you are lucky if
Bill to raise Maine minimum wage gets final House approval
AUGUSTA – Acting without debate Tuesday, the Maine House gave final passage to a bill to raise Maine’s $7.50 hourly minimum wage in stages to $9, and sent it to the Senate for a final vote. While the LePage administration spoke against the bill at a hearing last month, it’s unclear what action Republican Gov.
Homeless Man Killed In Fire Identified
PORTLAND (WGME) — The Maine State Fire Marshals Office has identified the homeless man killed in a fire late Saturday night as 53-year-old Brian Barbour. Investigators believe a candle in Barbour’s tent along West Commercial Street started the fire. An autopsy shows Barbour died from smoke inhalation. The fire started around 11:30 Saturday night. A
City's homelessness response needed now
Brian Barbour, 53, is the latest casualty. The homeless man died Saturday, probably of smoke inhalation after a lit candle set fire to his tent. He is one of dozens of homeless people who have died in Portland in the last few years. This sad report on the unforgiving life on the street makes a
US labor official tells Portland group minimum wage boost would not cause layoffs
PORTLAND, Maine – A top U.S. Department of Labor official told a room full of unemployed or minimum-wage-earning Mainers on Thursday that raising the minimum wage, as President Barack Obama and Maine Democrats propose, would not trigger mass layoffs. The event – led by Latifa Lyles, acting director of the department’s Women’s Bureau – took
Food Drive Kicks-off Community Week; 4/1- 4/5
Donations of non-perilshable food and other items are being accepted all this week at City Hall, Room 312 for Preble Street and other City Shelters. Other donations needed include: clean clothing, backpacks and socks. Donations will be accepted today through Friday, April 5th. This event is the first in a series of activities this week
Welfare fraud is not the problem, poverty is
Some policymakers act as if they would like to make the poor disappear, as if by magic. Gov. LePage’s budget has many versions of the trick, including a plan to cap state support for General Assistance programs, apparently under the belief that if there were less money to meet people’s needs, there would be fewer
More Mainers strain to put food on table
SACO – By the time Eleanor Locey pays her bills, there’s not enough money left over for food. She relies on Social Security but her income is too high to qualify for food stamps. So once a month the 77-year-old retired bus assistant drives to the Saco Food Pantry to load her trunk with the
