
Full Plates Full Potential awards $500 to Milo summer food program
MILO — Full Plates Full Potential, Maine’s only statewide childhood hunger organization is proud to announce the Piscataquis County 2018 Summer Food Program winner. The town of Milo will receive a $500 Summer Food Grant to support the 2019 summer program. Full Plates Full Potential’s inaugural 16 County Competition was launched to highlight the critical work summer food programs do reaching the 82,000 children who qualify for free and reduced price school meals.
“We are so proud of the Town of Milo’s summer food program. This summer was the first year the town ran the program on their own, and they were able to serve 818 meals” said Anna Korsen, Full Plates Full Potential’s program director. “Summertime is an extremely challenging time for children who are hungry. In Milo, 92 percent of school-age children qualify for free meals at school and this program was critical to ensure they get the food they need when school is out. Our 16 county grant program goal was to showcase and reward the best of summer programs across our state.”
“Last year we partnered with Dover-Foxcroft to feed kids during the summer, and this year the town of Milo took ownership of the summer meals program. Bringing it home changed everything. It really showed the importance of the program to the community,” said Erin Callaway, executive director of the Piscataquis Regional Food Center.
“This was such an important thing for the town to do for the community.” said Town Manager and Police Chief Damien Pickel. “It’s the most important thing I’ve ever done. The town took ownership of the program, and the community embraced it. I just love this program and feeding the kids. I miss the connection with them now that they’re back in school.”
Last summer, Milo had the best results in all of Piscataquis County. The 2018 summer sites saw them feed over 800 summer meals.
Maine has 123 Summer Food Service Programs with 450 meal sites across the state. In 2018, 727,238 summer meals were served statewide. Started in 2015, Full Plates Full Potential is Maine’s only statewide child hunger organization. Full Plates Full Potential does its work by partnering with other hunger relief organizations, granting funds and providing technical support to schools and nonprofits and working with chefs, businesses and others to end child hunger. Learn more at www.fullplates.org.