Attention Food Relief Resources, School officials, Municipal officials, Legislators, members of our Faith-based community, Foundation representatives, Grocers, and Nonprofits and other organizations who serve populations that may be reliant on SNAP benefits:
In November, 15% of Waldo County residents will lose a lifeline to food security with the loss of SNAP benefits. For the people we serve, the timing of this could not be worse – the weather is turning colder, gardens have stopped producing, the holidays are bearing down. It is, without a doubt, a crisis for our community. We know you all feel this deeply and that we all share a concern for our friends, family and neighbors who are the most vulnerable to food insecurity.
That is why we are convening an emergency summit Friday, October 31, from noon to 2 p.m. at the Belfast United Methodist Church located at 23 Mill Lane in Belfast. We sincerely hope you will join us. *Please note: Space is limited. As much as we know this topic concerns the entire community, we ask that, at this time, only people representing the groups mentioned above register to attend.* There will undoubtedly be many ways individual community members can contribute to help meet needs in the upcoming weeks. We ask for your patience and appreciate your commitment to being kind and involved.
We are convening to participate in a discussion that we hope will result in some collective community action. We all work towards common goals, using the limited resources at our disposal to reach as many people as we are able. Through an earnest and open discussion, we hope to strategize together, identify resources, and perhaps identify ways we can collaborate and work together to support each other and the people of Waldo County through this time of need.
Waldo CAP is currently collecting food donations to share with the food relief resources in our community, but is that all we can do to support your missions? We need to hear from you, and perhaps you would like to hear from others as well. This Emergency Summit will convene us all in one location to engage in these discussions. If you are able to attend, then please REGISTER using the QR code on the flyer below and answer a few questions that will help guide our time at the summit.
We have sent email invitations to the organizations for which we have contacts, and the response to date has been uplifting. We do not want to leave out community stakeholders with an interest in attending. As such, we encourage you to share this information with anyone you feel might be interested. This is fully intended to be a community discussion.
Helen Keller said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” Let us join forces and show the people we serve in Waldo County that they are not alone, and that together, we can do so much.
Thank you to Belfast United Methodist Church for lending us their space for this event.