ELAINE APPLETON GRANT The Maine Monitor.

Maine has one of New England’s highest food insecurity rates. Directors of its food pantries say it’s getting harder to make sure people are fed not just because of diminishing federal assistance for food banks and increasing demand. Many of the organizations also overwhelmingly rely on aging volunteers who can’t drive long distances or carry heavy boxes of food. More and more younger volunteers now seek out what the Minnesota Alliance of Nonprofit Advancement calls “event-based” volunteering. These are one-time efforts with no commitment to future shifts.