JMG Students Collect Nearly 6,000 Food Items for Food Cupboards

A month long food collection drive was held by the Caribou High School Jobs for Maine Graduates.

The food collection was held in the JMG classroom benefiting patients, their families as  as well as community members in the areas of Aroostook County that Pines Health Services health centers service.

JMG, serving more than 9,000 students in communities throughout all of Maine’s 16 counties, teams up with community colleges, university system and Maine's public middle and high schools to help students reach their full potential.

Casey Bouchard, Communications and Community Relations for Pines Health Services and Cary Medical Center, comments on having health centers in five different Aroostook communities. "This allowed us to collect the food from the students, then disperse to our health centers in the St. John Valley, Presque Isle and Caribou areas.”

According to a survey taken by the Good Shepherd Food Bank of Maine and the Portland-based nonprofit organization Preble Street, the food insecurity rate in the County was 17.1 percent. The only Maine county that was higher than that was Washington County with 17.2 percent.

Caragan Haney, a Senior and a JMG student at Caribou High School, says it was heartwarming to know that so many people care about others. “Working with young children almost every day, I see that there are families that cannot afford three meals a day so they struggle during vacations and even for snacks for their children during the day. I’m so happy to be a part of this partnership and to have the support of Pines and Cary."