The Local Work Worth Knowing About
Spotlight Issue: One organization making a big difference in Brunswick
This month, Acent is focusing in. Instead of our usual lineup, we’re featuring just one local nonprofit that’s shaping life in Brunswick and the midcoast — showing how even a small action can ripple out when you go deep with one cause.
Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program (MCHPP)
Location: Brunswick, Maine
The Full Story:
Since the early 1980s, Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program has been the backbone of food security in Brunswick and the surrounding region. Earning a four-star rating on Charity Navigator with over 87% of funding going straight to programs, MCHPP provides more than just groceries — it feeds families, fuels learning, and builds community from the ground up.
What makes them different:
A lot of food pantries provide emergency groceries. MCHPP goes several steps further: operating Brunswick’s largest food pantry, a daily soup kitchen, mobile pantries serving rural towns, a school backpack program that keeps kids fed over weekends, and even meal deliveries to homebound neighbors. They work directly with Good Shepherd Food Bank and local farms to source fresh, nutritious food — so guests get real choices and healthy options instead of “whatever’s available.”
What they actually do:
Food pantry: Groceries for any household, every 14 days, with choices of produce, proteins, dairy, bread, and more
Soup kitchen: Nutritious, home-cooked lunches served daily, no questions asked
School program: Discreet backpacks of food sent home with kids who might otherwise go hungry on weekends and breaks
Mobile pantries: Serving ten nearby towns, tackling rural hunger where resources are scarce
Fresh Rescue & Farm to Pantry: Annual partnerships with grocery stores and farms to redirect surplus fresh foods that would otherwise be wasted
Community connections: Staff that help connect guests to housing, heating assistance, legal help, and more
Why this matters to you:
Food insecurity is real in Brunswick: about 1 in 8 community members struggle to afford enough healthy food, including students and working families. For Bowdoin students, it’s easy to forget that on-campus dining isn’t the norm for everyone in town — or that many local kids go to bed hungry, even when their parents are working full time. MCHPP meets people where they are, with dignity, fresh food, and warmth, serving over 1,600 households and distributing millions of pounds of food every year.
Numbers that matter:
Over 2 million pounds of food distributed last year — supporting 1.6 million meals
80,000+ hot meals served through the soup kitchen annually
School backpack and mobile pantry programs reach hundreds of kids and isolated seniors monthly
250+ loyal volunteers keep things running, including many Bowdoin students
What your support actually does:
$10 provides groceries for a family for an entire week
$25 supports community lunch for 30 people
$50 fuels mobile pantry deliveries to remote communities
$100 keeps a school's backpack program running for a week
The Bowdoin connection:
Bowdoin students are a huge part of the MCHPP volunteer corps — prepping food, helping in the pantry, supporting fundraising drives, and organizing campus-wide food security projects. MCHPP regularly teams up with the McKeen Center’s Common Good program, making it easy for Bowdoin students and groups to get involved on- or off-campus.
Recent impact:
During the last year, demand for all of MCHPP’s services surged — yet nobody was ever turned away, and every program adapted to keep guests safe and respected. Even as food costs rose, fresh produce and healthy proteins remained staples. MCHPP continues to advocate for policy solutions at the state level, leading the fight against food insecurity beyond just relief.
How to get involved:
Donate online: www.mchpp.org/donate
Volunteer: Choose a regular shift or help out for a day — sign up at www.mchpp.org/volunteer
Learn more: Take a pantry or kitchen tour to see the impact up close
Spread the word: Host a food drive or use social media to amplify local needs
The bigger picture:
When a community has enough to eat, everything else works better — school, work, and public health. MCHPP doesn’t just fill plates — they build dignity, stability, and hope for people who might otherwise go unseen or unsupported.
A hungry student or neighbor in Brunswick isn’t someone “else’s” problem. MCHPP has proved that everyone, no matter their resources, has a stake in making sure no one goes hungry here.
Want to help or learn more?
Website: https://www.mchpp.org/
Donate: https://www.mchpp.org/donate/
Volunteer: https://www.mchpp.org/volunteer/
Next month, Acent will return with a selection of local organizations. Want to suggest a Brunswick-area nonprofit for a future spotlight? Email us at [email protected].
