The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote today on a Republican proposal to slash $40 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP. Critics say it will result in four million low-income seniors, veterans, children and their families losing food stamps benefits. The move comes at a time when Maine is … Read more
For many kids, summer vacation is a time to relax – spend some time with their friends, head off to summer camp, or take a road trip with their family. But for too many Maine families, the summer months can be difficult. When school is out, kids no longer have access to school breakfast and … Read more
For nearly a month, New England Rehab has been collecting non-perishable food items for the Preble Street Food Pantry in Portland. Monday, they delivered the last of those items to the pantry — which feeds about 150 families per week in the community. Besides being a place to pick up free groceries for struggling families… … Read more
A long line of people wrapping around the building, mostly men and women but some children too, hugging the wall, waiting to get in. Waiting for a place at the table. No, this line is not the line winding every night around the Preble Street Soup Kitchen. Though this line is about hunger, it is … Read more
Too many Americans don’t have enough to eat, but the big debate in Washington seems to be how much to cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Senate and House committees have passed their own versions of a new farm bill. The Senate would cut SNAP (which used to be known as food stamps) by $4 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
Students at Dyer Elementary School in South Portland are helping to feed needy families at the Preble Street Resource Center this holiday season by "stuffing the bus." Students have dropped off nonperishable food donations for the last few weeks into a box shaped like a school bus located in the lobby of the school. Big … Read more
When I go to the supermarket these days (and that’s most days), I often find myself thinking, "How in the world can young families afford to put food on the table?" It seems to me that a typical trip to the market used to cost me $20 to $30. Now I’m spending about $50 a … Read more
It’s a double-whammy for Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services. The department overpaid food stamp benefits to about 58,000 households for four months last year. The department also incorrectly calculated Medicaid claims, according to the federal government, and both of those mistakes add up to a tab of mroe than $13 million owed to … Read more
