Maine's Fight to End Child Hunger: Full Plates Full Potential

Here in Maine, hunger has a young face. The state has the highest rate of child food insecurity in New England — roughly one in five Maine kids doesn't reliably have enough to eat. A Portland-based organization called Full Plates Full Potential has built its entire mission around changing that number.

Feeding kids now — and fixing the system

Full Plates works on two timelines at once. In the near term, it provides funding and hands-on technical assistance to schools and community organizations so they can run breakfast, lunch, afterschool, and summer meal programs. In the long term, it advocates for the policy changes — like School Meals for All — that make those programs permanent and universal, so feeding a hungry child doesn't depend on a grant cycle.

Closing the summer gap

The summer months are the hardest. When school lets out, the cafeteria meals that many kids rely on disappear with it — and summer meal programs have historically reached only a fraction of the children who need them. Expanding that reach is one of the organization's central goals, because hunger doesn't take a vacation.

Real momentum

The work has attracted serious investment. In 2023, Full Plates was awarded a $10 million USDA cooperative agreement to expand the use of local Maine ingredients in school meals and equip school nutrition staff to cook with them — feeding kids better while supporting Maine farmers at the same time.

It's a reminder that ending child hunger isn't a single act of charity. It's schools, farmers, nonprofits, lawmakers, and neighbors all pulling in the same direction.

Pantry is proud to be part of Maine's food-security ecosystem. Every donation you make — a box of produce, a case of milk, a tray of bread — could be the meal that keeps a Maine kid fed and focused.