Dear Editor:

The Maine Sunday Telegram carried a long story on Jan. 24 called “Waste not food that’s lost its looks.” The article described how Maine supermarkets are stepping up to help prevent wasting food that could feed hungry people. Because our affluent society has become so accustomed to picture-perfect produce, a great deal of perfectly edible food had been heading for the garbage truck. And this affluence is not shared by everyone; there are more than 200,000 Maine residents who go hungry.

The article focused on one store in particular, the Hannaford supermarket in Westbrook . However, the local Hannaford store, right there at the only stoplight in town, has also been doing a wonderful job of reducing this waste, and every week supplies the Boothbay Region Food Pantry with good, nourishing produce that is aesthetically past its prime. They also donate quantities of bakery items that are being pulled because their “sell by” date is fast approaching. The Food Pantry’s clients look forward to browsing the tables containing these donated items, which serve to supplement the staples that we supply, and they go home with shopping bags full of nutritious food.

The Boothbay Region Food Pantry, on behalf of our clients, would like to express our sincere gratitude to the people who are making this healthy food available. It’s certainly more labor intensive for the staff there to cull the good, edible fruit and vegetables from the real throwaways. Thank you Hannaford!

Betsy Wing

Treasurer

Boothbay Region Food Pantry