Patten Community Food Cupboard by Jean Howe
Stetson Memorial UMC
From Closet to Community Mission
Many of us may not be aware that a food cupboard has existed for several years at the Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church. One day, I was walking down the hall by the Pastor’s Office, and the closet door was open. There on the floor against the wall were stacks of canned food. I asked the Pastor about them and found that it was there for those who came to the church for help. Christy Trembley had asked the Administrative Board to have a cupboard. It was called "Heaven’s Blessing." At that time, Bob and I were involved with the local Cub Scout Pack, and we saw an opportunity to have the boys make a shelving unit to hold that food as part of their service project.
The closet eventually gave way to the Sunday School room near the Pastor’s office. A table, shelf, and refrigerator were added, and food was donated by members of the church, while bread was donated by Ellis Family Market. Some of the Youth Group volunteered to staff the cupboard when it was open.
The Turning Point and COVID Challenge
When the Pastor retired, the Cupboard was turned over to the United Methodist Women. At that meeting, there was a lot of discussion about what to do. The consensus was to close it down. No one wanted to take it over. Do you remember the TV commercial where the little voice on one shoulder says, “don’t do it,” and on the other shoulder another voice says, “go ahead, do it”? As I listened to the battle that was going on in my head, somehow words came out of my mouth… I went home and told Bob: you won’t believe what I just did…
The church held dinners, collected food each Sunday, and businesses did food drives to help, and we slowly grew. But then came COVID—the church started doing services remotely, businesses shut down, and our small food supply dried up. The writing was on the wall. Rev. Dan Blevins was our new pastor, and it was time to talk with him about closing. I had asked to see him the next morning.
Divine Intervention and the Community Cupboard is Born
That night, there was a phone call from Sue Adams. She told me she was working with a group in Millinocket called Mobilize Katahdin, and she wanted to talk with us about the food cupboard. I told her it was literally closing the next day. “Oh no, you can’t; there is money available, and I want Patten to get some of it,” she said. “Don’t do anything until I get back to you.”
Two days later, she arrived at the church door with the back of a truck full of food, and contact information for a woman by the name of Dixie Shaw with Catholic Charities in Aroostook County. A call was made to Dixie, and if any of you know her, she is like a bulldozer. “Send me a check for $460, and I will get all the food you need,” was her reply. Pastor Dan signed the paperwork, making Stetson Memorial UMC the official sponsor, and we became the Patten Community Food Cupboard. Catholic Charities receives food distribution from Good Shepherd Food Bank, and we signed with them as well, opening the door to additional food supplies through the Federal Program known as TFAP and Feeding America. Pastor Dan asked that we establish a Board of Directors with one member of the church from the board of trustees and the other members from the communities of Patten, Mt. Chase, Hersey, Moro, Crystal, Island Falls, Sherman, and Staceyville. It would truly become a “Community Cupboard.”
Growth and Mission
The church was not being used during Covid, and we asked the Trustees if we could move to larger rooms—the library became the cupboard. We wrote grants to Machias Savings Bank for shelving and remodeling so we could secure the new room. Volunteers showed up to help as people came and waited outside for the distribution of boxes of food. Our numbers grew, and our supply got bigger. We had enough beans and lentils to feed the whole town. We were able to raise funds through Good Shepherd’s Margaret Burnham Charitable Trust to purchase an enclosed trailer, a refrigerator, an upright freezer, and a chest freezer.
Life returned, and the church needed its rooms back. We went before the Church Administrative Council and asked for permission to build a new cupboard downstairs. The church membership gave its approval. Donations were made by individuals, organizations, and a grant from Good Shepherd’s Building Fund, and our cupboard, as we know it today, was built. It is open Tuesdays and Thursdays every week, as well as two Saturdays a month. We have registered over 200 households already this year, and average 80 households each month.
The Towns of Patten and Mt. Chase make financial contributions to the cupboard. Ellis Family Market and Hannaford in Millinocket give us fresh produce. Many businesses hold food drives, collect money for donations, and individuals give financial and food contributions.
That’s the physical Cupboard—but it takes a lot of people to make this work. Would those volunteers who provide coverage each day we are open, please stand up? Those who help with deliveries, driving and donating their trucks to pick up food from Catholic Charities in Monticello and Hannaford in Millinocket each month—please stand up. Those who help unload and stock shelves for those deliveries—please stand up. Members of the United Women of Faith who have made the food cupboard one of their missions, holding annual fundraisers, suppers, and providing support, please stand up. These are just the people in this church—there are those who belong to other churches and many more who are there to help every month.
In the cupboard, the rules do not allow us to have Bibles, literature, or in any way or form make people feel they must come to church in gratitude for the food they receive….
I believe all of us who work to support the cupboard are following the Wesleyan Core Term: Caring for Neighbor.
“Caring for neighbors goes hand in hand with loving God. We don’t have to choose between feeding on Scripture and feeding the hungry, between reaching out to God and reaching out to those in need. The Christian walk requires both works of mercy and works of piety. Who is our neighbor? According to Wesley, our neighbor is anyone who needs our help, not just the person already part of our group. Wesley was especially concerned that we care for those we might not initially think of as neighbors, those beyond our immediate neig
Personal Note: In 1954, I was five years old; my parents made a decision to change their lives and mine. They left home and family and emigrated to the United States from Canada. Here, Canada is only an hour down the road, but it is another country. We were provided with a sponsor that gave us a place to live and my father a job. After his year commitment was completed, my parents moved to Westbrook, and I started school. On the corner of our street was the Westbrook Congregational Church. I used to sit on the steps until one day I was invited in… that church, and the people in it took care of me, their neighbor. Wherever I have traveled, whatever I have done in my life, God and the church have cared for me.
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