The Bar Harbor Food Pantry currently distributes $8,000-10,000 of food a month, a 30-60% increase since the COVID-19 crisis began. 

Serving 230 households each month on average, with new or anonymous requests for help arriving constantly, they are preparing for demand to reach 300-350+ households per month and last well beyond the immediate term. 

Common Good Soup Kitchen is serving more than 100 families (a 40% increase) with weekly home delivery of three 16-oz soups per person in a household, and also distributes boxes of food  to 35 - 40 families each week. Their sources of reduced-cost and gleaned provisions are dwindling, so Common Good now must buy food on the open market.

One box of groceries costs $150. They need to raise $8,000 - $10,000 to keep going until June.

The Cranberry Isles Realty Trust (CIRT) works to sustain a vibrant community in the Cranberry Isles by providing affordable, year-round housing. CIRT will provide its tenants with rent support or forgiveness if needed; with your help, no one will lose their homes during the pandemic. They are also actively searching for sources of support that will allow them to act appropriately and responsibly  as the pandemic and its economic ramifications play out.  

Healthy Acadia offers a range of FREE community health services. These services, and the cost to deliver them, include: 

Mini-grants for community members to address one-time challenges which can undermine the ability to have a high quality of life ($500 on average); 

FarmDrop MDI, an online farmers’ market with contact-free pickup in Somesville ($275/week);  

Distribution of high quality, healthy local produce to area food security organizations ($125/week for family of four); 

Resilience and mindfulness resources for all ages ($600 per eight-class series); 

Substance recovery support services ($100/week per client); and 

Social calls by referral or for those who indicate interest in connecting with a trained volunteer ($50/week per client). 

Providing compassionate end-of-life care, grief support and community education on related topics, Hospice Volunteers of Hancock County has continued serving throughout the pandemic, with limited and carefully-managed in-person patient and caregiver support and extensive online bereavement support and educational programs. 

The need for grief support has and will continue to increase through these trying times, while traditional in-person fundraising events, which usually raise approximately $25,000 through the spring and summer, remain out of the question.  

Island Connections has and will continue to deliver meals for the Meals on Wheels Program on MDI, provide free transportation for essential medical appointments such as dialysis and cancer treatments, and offer pharmacy pickup. A Volunteer Shopping Program was created to help vulnerable seniors stay safe and healthy by preventing further exposure to the virus.  Island Connections will continue to transport people to get their vaccines.  A recent collaboration between Island Connections and The MDI Food Access Project created an opportunity for our volunteers to deliver both food boxes filled with prepared meals, produce, and non-perishable food items on Saturday mornings to locations on and off MDI.

In the near term, they need $15,000 to replace anticipated income from their cancelled spring fundraising tournament.

Island Housing Trust is working to build strong island communities by providing year-round housing opportunities for MDI's workforce. IHT is creating a year-round neighborhood at the head of the island, building 10 energy-efficient homes that will be affordable to those earning a standard wage on MDI. Raising $12,000 will build the foundation for the first year-round home.  

The Islesford Neighborhood House Association is able to provide limited assistance to islanders in need of food, medicine, or other essentials. 

For over a century, Maine Seacoast Mission has been asking Mainers what they need -- and meeting those needs to the best of their ability --  on Maine's unbridged islands and among Downeast coastal communities. While they are proud of their history, their focus is on their work today and tomorrow. There are many ways to help, especially now as they create new ways to keep people nourished and connected while maintaining coronavirus precautions. 

MDI Campfire Coalition assists 75-120 families per year with purchases of fuel oil or the equivalent in alternate heating sources. Assistance for a household for a winter season costs approximately $300 

Click here to donate by check.  Click here to donate online through Harbor House and put Campfire Coalition in the memo line.

Each week Open Table offers a free community supper by take-out and delivery serving all of Mount Desert Island and Trenton. They are now distributing 275-300 meals (90+ of those by delivery), a 50% increase over pre-COVID averages. These numbers are rising each week. Food costs alone for each of these meals are about $700. Additionally, they have the increased costs of the to-go containers, around $150 per week.

Open Table plans to start a second weekly supper. All the above costs would apply to that meal too, as well as the added cost of staffing to make the meal possible at $300 per meal. 

The SPCA provides shelter and basic care for lost, abandoned and relinquished animals. They offer a free pet food pantry and provide vet care assistance to help keep pets with their owners if they experience financial hardship like those due to COVID-19.

Providing shelter, food and basic medical care for one cat from intake to adoption: $750. For one dog: $2,000.

Providing pet food to one low income pet per month: $50.

Providing one spay/neuter certificate to a low income household:$100.

Providing emergency vet care assistance to one low income pet: $500. 

The work of the Westside Food Pantry is to augment food security for our westside MDI neighbors. During the winter months when seasonal employment is limited for some, and winter expenses increase for nearly all, we offer this help. COVID19 continues to disrupt the life and work of our community and makes this need particularly acute.  

We continue to provide major financial support for the Tremont and Pemetic Schools Backpack Program, as well as our normal distribution of food vouchers redeemable at westside food markets. Our commitments to our neighbors necessitate that we raise approximately $20,000 per month.

In addition to providing safe and affordable lodging to the women who have been in residence since before COVID-19, the YWCA has created “The Benni Fund” in memory of Benni McMullen, who served as their Executive Director for 39 years. This fund will offer assistance to single mothers who have been financially affected during COVID-19 due to job loss or loss of child care.

It’s estimated that assistance with living expenses, rent, utilities, and groceries might average $750 - $1,000 per month. We hope we will be able to help twenty women.