LINCOLN, Maine — The Lincoln Regional Food Cupboard usually serves 25 to 30 families a week, but that number has climbed to at least 45 families since the Lincoln Paper and Tissue mill shut down last month, Director Melvin Voisine said Tuesday.
That’s why the Town Council voted 6-0 on Monday to allocate $2,500 to the cupboard and $2,500 more to the town’s home-heating relief program. Councilors are aware that “a lot more people are out of work,” said Chairman Steve Clay, who suggested the donation during the council meeting.
“It’s the holiday season,” Clay said Tuesday. “We have to make sure that people can at least try to get the essentials — food and heat.”
Voisine was pleased with the council’s generosity. Thanks to discounts offered to food pantries by supermarkets and professional pantry suppliers, $1 donated to a pantry has the buying power of about $7 at the retail level, Voisine said.
“It could not come at a better time. We will be giving out our Christmas baskets on Thursday. It is a boost. We can definitely use it,” Voisine said Tuesday.
Councilors were very receptive to the idea. Councilor Jeffery Gifford modified it slightly, suggesting that the town also include its own home-heating program.
Councilors also voted 6-0 to accept $2,975 in donations to the heating fund, $200 to the town recreation center fund, $194.05 to the town walking trail and $57.71 to the town library’s book fund. Councilor Dede Trask was absent.
The completion of the mill’s sale to a group of asset liquidators on Dec. 9 for $5.95 million ended a downward slide that began with the explosion of the mill’s chemical recovery boiler in November 2013. About 185 of the mill’s 400 workers were laid off in the aftermath of the disaster.
Only about a dozen are working to keep the mill warm for its new owner, Boston-based Gordon Brothers Group.
As of Tuesday, at least 45 Lincoln-area families — including those of millworkers and others in businesses hurt by the mill shutdown — have been seeking food from the pantry, Voisine said. About 1,200 families from Passadumkeag to Kingman and from the Katahdin region seek pantry aid annually, Voisine has said. Many are repeat customers.
The town’s home-heating program had served eight families, or 25 people, through November, said Treasurer Melissa Quintella, who oversees the program.
Created in 2008, the heating program typically serves 20 to 30 families annually. The program targets town households that fail to meet General Assistance, Salvation Army or Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program standards — typically senior citizens or single parents. It serves those who have less than a quarter-tank of home heating oil or other energy source and need 50 to 100 gallons.
The heating program has about $7,000 in donations, Clay said.
Voisine said he hoped donations would continue to come in after December, when they usually decrease dramatically.
Anyone interested in making donations to the food pantry can mail them to the Lincoln Federal Credit Union, Attention: Lincoln Regional Food Cupboard, 171 West Broadway, Lincoln 04457.