Ending hunger walking tour visits Oxford County

WESTBROOK - On November 23, the Ninth Annual Maine Credit Unions' Ending Hunger Walking Tour stopped in three Oxford County towns and contributed to a local food pantry in each community. The Tour features Brenda Davis, one of Maine's leading ending hunger advocates, partnering with Maine's credit unions to raise awareness for ending hunger during a month-long walk across Maine.

Local food pantries receiving monetary contributions were Oxford Hills Food Pantry in Norway; GRAMPA Food Pantry in Mexico and Community Concepts in South Paris.

This year's Tour will be visiting the most communities, and covering the most miles in its history. The Walk is expected to encompass a record of more than 1,500 miles, with approximately 700 of that on foot, and visit a record-setting 72 communities from Kittery to Madawaska. The Tour will visit every Maine county for the fifth consecutive year. At each of the 79 credit union branches Davis visits, she will pick up a contribution from the Campaign as a way to support her cause. This year, the Maine Credit Unions' Campaign for Ending Hunger will also make a $105 donation to a food pantry in each of the 72 communities that Davis will visit. The Maine Credit Unions' Campaign for Ending Hunger will contribute nearly $30,000 to help end hunger through the Tour, part of the larger initiative by credit unions to end hunger in Maine which has, to date, raised and distributed more than $3.5 million.

The Walk is an effort on the part of Maine's credit unions and Davis to build awareness about the problem of hunger in Maine during the month of November, which has been designated as Ending Hunger month. The Walk will conclude with a ceremony at Brewer FCU in Brewer on Thursday, December 2.

Since 1990, the Maine Credit Unions' Campaign for Ending Hunger has raised over $3.5 million to help end hunger in Maine. This is the 21st year of the campaign.

WALK FOR HUNGER - During the Maine Credit Unions' Ending Hunger Walking Tour's stop at Oxford FCU in Norway, one of three stops the Tour made in the Oxford Hills region, Brenda Davis (right) receives a contribution from the credit union's Lindsey Rosenberg (left) as part of the Maine Credit Unions' Campaign for Ending Hunger. Through the Tour, Brenda is traveling throughout the State from Madawaska to Kittery focusing attention on the severity that hunger does exist in Maine, and is helping to raise local awareness. The Maine Credit Unions' Campaign for Ending Hunger also made a contribution to food pantries in Oxford County.