The Boothbay Region Food Pantry is ready to help all residents of the peninsula who need help to feed themselves and their families. At present, we have a lot of frozen, canned, and boxed food, as well as fresh produce.

The pantry is open every Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. It serves residents of Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor, Edgecomb and Southport. The pantry entrance is in the lower parking lot of the Congregational Church of Boothbay Harbor, at the corner of Eastern Avenue and Route 27. The pantry will not be open on Monday evenings until the present crisis is over.

If you are already a client, come to the pantry on your usual Friday – or earlier if necessary. If you are not yet a client, come on any Friday. We will sign you up and give you what you need as long as supplies hold out. If illness or disability or the lack of a friend or family member to drive you keeps you from going to the pantry, we will deliver a box of food to your home. Please do your utmost to find a driver on your own, since our volunteers and pantry directors are already very busy acquiring and distributing food. Please call the food pantry at 350-2962 if you need delivery.

Because of the Covid-19 virus, we have developed a new system to improve food distribution while adhering to the strongest possible guidelines for protecting both clients and pantry workers. For the past few Fridays, clients have used a check list to identify their food needs, after which pantry workers “shopped” in the pantry for them, then delivered their food in boxes to tables outside the pantry. Last Friday, a new and improved process was instituted.

From now on, arriving clients will pick up a blank grocery list and complete it in the comfort of their car. Then they will go to the church office door where they will hold the completed list up against the glass while a picture of it is taken from inside the door.  That picture will be “AirDropped" (transferred) to the pantry computer from which it will be printed and used by a director to select the identified items from the pantry shelves. Boxes will be placed on tables set up outside for pick up by clients, who will wait in their car until their name or number is called by a director or volunteer.

A final note: A heartfelt thank you to all who have donated to the pantry in this, its time of greatest need. Donations are likely to continue to be needed as we continue to cope with the consequences of the ongoing pandemic. If you wish, you may mail a donation to the Boothbay Region Food Pantry, POB 63, East Boothbay, ME 04544. We are grateful for your help.