The state the Pantry halfway-ish through 2022

2020 was the busiest year for the Bar Harbor Food Pantry. With the tourism season effectively shut down, people were out of work and looking for a little help to get by. That year, we served around 550 households who visited the Pantry a total of 2200 times. As I said, it was our busiest year ever at the Pantry.

Until this year.

As of the day I am writing this, August 18, 2022, we have served 545 households who have visited the pantry a total of 2122 times. 

There are many reasons for this, but the biggest factor is the increase in the cost of food, gas, and everything else. We are seeing families that we have not seen for years, not even in 2020. 

On top of record-level usage of the Pantry, our food costs have gone up dramatically as well. We are on track to spend 20% more than we did last year. That makes sense, more people are coming to the Pantry because of the rising cost of living and food so we would be buying more to compensate. Unfortunately, even though we are spending more on our purchases, we are getting so much less. Our shelves look bare compared to other years. 

In the past 6 months, the price of cheese has gone up 15%, potatoes 38%, whole milk 11%, Oranges 6%, and eggs 97%. To keep to our budget, we have had to cut down on the amount and variety of fresh produce, meat and dairy alternatives, and other high-cost items. On top of that, supply chain issues have made it so that some items (like peanut butter or cereal) that we would normally get at a steep discount or even for free are just simply not available through those vendors. 

But all this aside, I am not worried about 2022. The Islander article about the Pantry in July brought out a lot of support and should community support continue like in past years, we will not have to make any more cuts this year to stay within budget and provide our services to our community. Sure variety might be a little less and there might be times when we are out of items, but we will continue to operate and have supplemental food available for everyone who needs it.

I am worried about next year. And the year after that. And the year after that. Especially if the trends of today continue.

But that is another topic for another day. Until then, stay healthy, happy, and well.

Yours,

Tom Reeve