THE LOCKER PROJECT

The Locker Project connects food-insecure children in Maine with nourishing food to improve their learning capacity, health, and future.

In Maine, One in four children regularly experiences food insecurity. That’s 60,000 Maine schoolchildren and substantially worse than the national average of one in six. Maine has the highest child hunger rate in New England. Child hunger exists in even the wealthiest Maine communities. There is enough food to share with every child in need of good nutrition. Schools are the most direct way for children to access nutritional food that might not be available at home.

Learning capacity, school absenteeism, behavioral problems, and serious health issues among students can be addressed in large part simply by helping kids access nutritional food they might not have regular access to. With the USDA providing impoverished children with school breakfast and lunch programs, the times children go hungry the most are in the evenings, weekends. and long school breaks. Statistically, children are the most desperate for food during summer break.

By partnering with the Good Shepherd Food Bank, the Locker Project is able to provide nutritional food for Maine children who are food-insecure, both during the day and for take-home, at the cost of $150 per child per year.

SCHOOLS WE CURRENTLY STOCK:

• Bayside Learning Community, Portland

• Brown Elementary School, South Portland

• Center for Grieving Children, Portland

• Deering High School, Portland

• East End Community School, Portland

• Easterseals Maine Child Development Center

• Hall Elementary School, Portland

• Kaler Elementary School, South Portland

• King Middle School, Portland

• Lincoln Middle School, Portland

• Lyman-Moore Middle School, Portland

• Margaret Murphy Center for Children, Saco

• Memorial Middle School, South Portland

• Ocean Avenue School, Portland

• Presumpscot Elementary School, Portland

• The REAL School, Windham-Raymond

• Reiche Elementary School, Portland

• Riverton Elementary School, Portland, in partnership with Allagash Brewing Company

• Skillin Elementary School, South Portland

• South Portland High School

• Westbrook High School

More info at mainelockerproject.org