Hannaford Impact Book 2023 by PSIMDecks

2023

Impact Stories AS TOLD BY NONPROFITS of the Hannaford Helps Reusable Bag Program & Bloomin’ 4 Good Program

Table of Contents Connecting arts and culture with community.................................................................................................... 1

Helping create promising futures ......................................................................................................................... 7

Promoting & supporting educational gardens for youth ................................................................................................................................................... 15

Recruiting for Maine ............................................................................................................................................... 21

Building increased resilience in Vermont's food system .......................................................................................................................................... 27

Every Act of Kindness Makes a Difference At PS It Matters, we believe everyday choices add up. By giving shoppers an easy way to make a difference, the Bags 4 My Cause and Bloomin’ 4 Good Programs have generated more than$10.6 million in donations to over 42,000 nonprofit organizations since inception in 2011. This year alone, these two initiatives have donated over $2,000,000 to more than 17,800 nonprofits. To illustrate the meaning behind these numbers, our Nonprofit Engagement Team began conducting interviews with benefiting nonprofits in 2021. The resulting Impact Stories showcase the immense value of our partnership better than any facts or figures ever could. These stories highlight the multifaceted ways nonprofits contribute to their communities and how they have furthered their impact through the Hannaford Helps Reusable Bag and Bloomin’ 4 Good Programs. Enclosed in this book are the stories of five nonprofits Hannaford supported this year. To hear from more nonprofits, visit the Hannaford Program Website: hannaford.2givelocal.com/stories. It is through Hannaford’s dedication to creating a positive impact that, together, we are able to spark meaningful change. We sincerely value your partnership and look forward to continuing this inspiring work in 2024. Thank you for joining us in believing that every act of kindness makes a difference, no matter how small. We appreciate your commitment to supporting local nonprofits and strengthening the communities we call home.

01 Connecting arts and culture with community. THE WALDO THEATRE The Waldo Theatre is a world-class jewel in Midcoast Maine, approaching its 90th anniversary. Hannaford has supported the Waldo Theatre through the Hannaford Helps Community Bag and Bloomin’ 4 Good Programs.

Tell us about the Waldo Theatre. The Waldo is working to engage, enrich and entertain our community. We view our theater as more than simply a performance and movie venue. Through its programs, the Waldo seeks to enhance the region’s cultural offerings for its residents, particularly its youth, and improve the quality of life for all. The theater began in 1935. A lumber dealer in New York City who had long-time ties to Waldoboro, Maine, decided it would be a great idea to build a state-of-the-art movie theater in Waldoboro. Because of his New York connections, he commissioned an architect named Benjamin Schlanger, who had contributed to architectural works like Lincoln Center, the Sydney Opera House and Radio City Music Hall. They designed this building with a Greek revival front and an art deco interior. It was finished and opened in 1936, and the acoustics are excellent because of how well it was designed. At the time, it was considered one of the best small theaters in America. Since opening, the theater has been run sporadically. In 2006, the building was donated to the Waldo Theater Organization, which operated until 2014. Unfortunately, the operation wasn’t sustainable. Unoccupied, the building fell into disrepair; there were terrible holes in the roof and water leaks everywhere. It was placed on the list of most endangered historic places in 2017. To save this fantastic building, a group of local volunteers raised the money to preserve and renovate the facility to return it to an operable theater.

The vision is to build community through the arts in the greater Waldoboro area.

The renovation work was finished, and we were ready to open and start offering programming in 2020, just in time for the pandemic. Things, of course, were adjusted, and some virtual programs were offered. The renovation included a state-of-theart digital projection system so that we could live stream. Finally, in 2021, we could schedule our first live performance since the building was repaired. Now we’re offering films of all kinds, including free family films on the weekends. The vision is to build community through the arts in the greater Waldoboro area.

What services do you provide to the community? The Waldo Theatre offers all kinds of performing arts, films and art exhibits in our lobby gallery. Educational programs are a large part of the services we provide to our community. We are in the second season of offering programs both in school and after school. Our education director, Mia Branco, is a skilled and talented educator. She leads our small team conducting all the education programs, working in classrooms and getting kids engaged from grades 1 to 12 with theater education and acting classes. This fall, we started offering after-school programs for kids. The enrollment and enthusiasm, along with additional grant funding, will allow us to continue and expand those programs. Our adult acting classes filled up very quickly. Workshops like these give everyone in the community a taste of how magical belonging to a theater group can be.

What sets your organization apart from others in your community? The theater looks to partner with the schools to bring extracurricular art activities to kids. Schools offer many sports opportunities, but many students aren’t sports-driven; it just isn’t their thing. It’s so interesting because there are many direct parallels between sports and performing arts. You’re working as a team with teammates. You must be good at your position and contribute actively. And you create bonds and learn to collaborate toward a common goal. Sports and theater are seemingly different activities with many comparable benefits to the participants. As long as every student can learn and play in a way that appeals to them, that is essential. We are here as a resource to provide in-depth performing arts experiences for those students who need something different.

Tell us a story that illustrates the good work of your organization. As a community, we’re hungry, especially post-pandemic, for a collective experience connecting with others. An excellent example of that happened the Friday after Thanksgiving. We screened a sing-along to The Sound of Music, the classic 1965 version with the lyrics on the screen. Over 150 people attended, and everyone had an absolute blast, singing along and dressed up in costumes. We had incredible prizes for our costume contest donated by several local businesses. It was an inexpensive, fun and different event that was so well received that we’re planning to do the sing-along with Grease in May. We also had an excellent sold-out performance a few weeks ago of Bass Extremes: Victor Wooten and Steve Bailey. They are incredible bassists and educators from the Berkeley School of Music in Boston. We partnered with the Midcoast Music Academy, who invited their students, along with the public, to attend a free Master Class prior to the performance, and over 90 people attended. Victor and Steve engaged the audience with discussions, demonstrations, and a Q&A. It was so amazing to see the level of engagement, not only in the master class but also in the performance itself. The performance was a sellout, with nearly 300 in attendance. Seeing so many people come out for something as relatively obscure as bass players was terrific, and it excited me about the range of possibilities we have in front of us. One of the things I plan to do moving forward is to reach out to the community and find out what people want to see. What will interest them and bring them out as we build our programming? What is the perfect combination of things we can continue to offer affordably to the community but compelling enough that people will come out to the theatre? It’s about finding the right balance.

What is your most outstanding achievement or contribution to the community? The arts education initiative we’ve been working on is an enormous achievement. Over 70 kids in local elementary schools have been participating in our in-school and afterschool theatre education programs. The offerings have been so well received by students and teachers that we are expanding from three to five in-school programs. To have a kid who’s shy or whose parents have tried with no luck to find something extracurricular their child will enjoy, try our programs, and then say, “I think I found my place,” is just great to hear.

What do you want people to know about the Waldo Theatre? We are here, we are open and we want people to be involved; we want to cultivate community through the arts. We encourage everyone in the Waldoboro area to attend a performance or a screening, become members and volunteer. It’s not always about giving financially; it’s about being involved and giving your time, energy, ideas and enthusiasm. We have a small staff, and as we build our programming, we must also build our capacity. It takes a lot of effort, but it’s also a lot of fun. The Waldo Theatre is committed to keeping ticket prices reasonable and having a good range of interesting performances. Our goal is to engage, enrich and entertain the community.

We encourage everyone in the Waldoboro area to attend a performance or a screening, become members and volunteer.

How will you use the funds raised from the Hannaford Helps Community Bag and Bloomin’ 4 Good Programs? Although the theater has been renovated, we still have things to do. Some finances go to the theater maintenance. Most of the funds raised in the Hannaford Community Bag and Bloomin’ 4 Good Programs will go to our performing arts programming. These funds will help with absolutely everything: theater engagement, education programs, maintaining the facility and overall helping to increase our capacity.

Is there anything you would like to add? The Waldo Theatre is available to organizations or individuals for private rental. For example, we’ve rented several times for birthday parties: they select the movie, and we take care of the projection. We want to become a community resource, a gathering place and a contributor to the greater good of Waldoboro.

Susan Hodder is Executive Director of the Waldo Theatre.

02 Helping create promising futures. SWEETSER Sweetser offers support in multiple ways for the behavioral needs of children and families. Hannaford has supported this nonprofit organization through the Hannaford Helps Community Bag and Bloomin’ 4 Good Programs.

Tell us about Sweetser. Sweetser is a behavioral health nonprofit that provides evidence-based treatment, support and hope through a statewide network of community-based mental health recovery and educational services. Last year, we served over 15,000 individuals, children, families and adults in every corner of Maine. Believe it or not, we were founded in 1828, which means we’re approaching our 200th anniversary. There aren’t many organizations around that can say they’ve reached that threshold. It speaks to the fact that we constantly adapt to the changing environment based on the needs of our communities. We started out serving children as a children’s home. And from there, it has morphed into a wide variety of different programs and services. We cover anything from eating disorders treatment to general therapy to crisis services and everything in between. The fact that we’ve been around as long as we have been and serve the number of people we do speaks to the value of our work.

We cover anything from eating disorders treatment to general therapy to crisis services and everything in between.

What services do you provide to the community? Sweetser serves all age ranges. We have a network of independently licensed therapists in every corner of our state. Because of the need, in many cases, we have over 2,000 individuals on a waitlist for mental health services. That doesn’t mean every program is full, but it does mean that we’re seeing such a need in Maine that the providers throughout our entire behavioral health system can’t meet it. Mental health is now more public. And with the next generation, we’re seeing mental health embraced as a workplace necessity and another aspect of life that we need to address, which is great to see. We offer an experiential K-12 school in Saco. And it’s the heart of our organization. We provide day treatment and residential treatment to children in grades K-12. One of the benefits of this program is that they get hands-on experience. The school has a culinary program and a working farm that the students manage. They take care of chickens, horses, donkeys and pigs. We have a greenhouse where they grow vegetables and plants that we sell in the community. There’s an automotive program where they can learn automotive skills and a woodshop for woodworking programs. We’re helping students achieve their treatment objectives in an alternative setting, and that’s important. Not every student will thrive in a classroom; taking them out of that environment and putting them with their peers in a setting like a farm fundamentally changes how they address and work through their behavioral health challenges. We even teach the maple syrup process. Students tap the trees, boil the sap and bottle the final product. They experience the entire production right on campus. To see students take to that type of experience is powerful. They have ownership over it and feel pride because they have achieved something.

Not every student will thrive in a classroom; taking them out of that environment and putting them with their peers in a setting like a farm fundamentally changes how they address and work through their behavioral health challenges. For other services, we have school-based clinicians in schools across the state to address the significant decline in youth mental health. Having clinicians embedded in the classroom working with students, educators, guidance counselors and their families is critically important in addressing mental health concerns. Sweetser serves about 2,300 students through that platform, and we’re constantly growing to more school districts. We also have an OPTIONS program, which is through the state of Maine, to increase awareness around substance use and to educate on how to utilize Naloxone (a medicine that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose) to prevent an overdose. Sweetser tries to tackle the opioid crisis from every angle. We have folks in the community making presentations, showing people how to use this life-saving modality. Then, we have clinicians in primary care offices as a one-stop shop when you’re talking about your overall wellness. Your mental health is a critical component of your overall health and wellness. I could keep going! We have so many different services. I like to think of it as a buffet of options. No matter what you need, the key is to seek professional help. You must take that first step to engage because people are willing to help.

What sets you apart from other nonprofits in your community? We’re the leading provider of mobile crisis services in Maine. Through this program, we served over 5,000 people last year. These services are essential because it’s about meeting folks literally and physically where they are. We have clinicians go anywhere to meet people where they are and help them with whatever they are going through. When you’re going through a crisis, you can’t always plan when or where it will happen. The pandemic has shown us that. To be nimble, quick and responsive to the needs of Maine people is essential and does set us apart from other organizations.

Tell us a story that illustrates the good work of your organization. I’d go back to our school. There’s something special about seeing students enter our program in rough shape; they could even be violent toward their classmates or the staff. And then turn it around in a relatively short amount of time. They eventually cross the finish line, graduate, and have their diploma. The students still get to graduate from their local high school, but they’ve been through our program every step of the way. To see that success and the students take pride in making it through one of the darkest times in their lives. They’re on the other side with their whole life ahead of them to achieve whatever they want.

Ultimately, those stories inspire us: when an individual shines, makes it and finally says, “You know what? I overcame those challenges.”

That accomplishment is such a powerful reminder of why we do this work. I know it motivates me in my job and so many others at this organization. We have over 600 staff members across the state. They each have a powerful story of the impact that motivates them. Ultimately, those stories inspire us: when an individual shines, makes it and finally says, “You know what? I overcame those challenges.” They were willing to accept help, and their treatment and support at Sweetser led to a more hopeful future. That’s why we do this work!

What is your most outstanding achievement or contribution to the community?

What do you want people to know about Sweetser?

We’re focused on advancing our organization and the behavioral health system. This is important because we are one piece of a bigger puzzle. When the behavioral health system is successful, we’re successful.

There’s something for everyone! Anybody can take advantage of and utilize our services to better themselves, their friends or their family members. It’s a fact that mental illness impacts everyone, no matter their socio-economic status, regardless of their background or what job they have. It’s about being able to listen to yourself, listen to others and pick up the signs to say maybe it’s time we talk to someone.

A part of this is educating the public. Our outreach efforts let folks know how to recognize mental health in themselves and in those around them. We offer free mental health first-aid training. We do this with any interested group, whether a workplace, a civic group, a school, firefighters or frontline workers that want to recognize it and better their own lives. This is important. I point to eating disorders as a good example; not everyone knows that an eating disorder is a mental illness. Educating and creating awareness to reduce the stigma attached to mental health is critically important. We do this work through PSAs and other media initiatives and then engage policymakers. We collaborate with other behavioral health providers and hospitals to engage state and federal lawmakers. These efforts are to better the system. We work on expanding school-based clinicians in every school, but this program loses money every year. We’re one of the only providers because the financial component just doesn’t work. We are working with policymakers, such as the Maine Speaker of the House and the Senate President, to advance bills that help address our behavioral health challenges, including better support for youth in school. We must continually discuss the ever-changing needs of behavioral health in Maine.

There’s something for everyone! Anybody can take advantage of and utilize our services to better themselves, their friends or their family members. We have something called the Intentional Warm Line at 1.866.771.9276 (WARM), where you can pick up the phone 24/7 for free and talk to somebody with lived experience with a mental illness. They’ll talk with you through whatever you need to talk through. Some folks regularly call because they value it so much. Loneliness is such a big epidemic, particularly in the rural parts of our state. It’s also essential for the public to know their options because when you’re trying to unpack the behavioral health system, knowing where to start can feel like a massive barrier. We have a PromiseLine that people can call or email (1-800-434-3000 or info@sweetser.org). This is where you can start if you need help figuring out where to begin or what you need. We are here to support you.

How will you use the funds raised from the Hannaford Helps Community Bag and Bloomin’ 4 Good Programs? We appreciate the partnership; it’s so impactful. Every little bit helps move the needle. Sweetser doesn’t turn anyone away from services regardless of their ability to pay. When we do essential fundraising initiatives, we are centered around ensuring everyone gets the treatment they need because we all deserve access to mental health services. Partnerships, like this one with Hannaford, help us provide for those who otherwise can’t afford the significant cost of care.

Is there anything you would like to add? We want people to know that if you need care and a place to start, call or email our Promise Line (1-800-434-3000 or info@sweetser.org). Or, if you just need to talk to someone with lived experience, call our Intentional Warm Line at 1.866.771.9276 (WARM). We are here to help! All this information can be accessed on our website at www.sweetser.org.

Justin Chenette is the Senior Director of Public Relations and Advancement at Sweetser.

Promoting & supporting educational gardens for youth. MAINE SCHOOL GARDEN NETWORK The Maine School Garden Network is a group of committed individuals who believe in the profound importance of teaching children to garden, and the far-reaching value of adding a gardening curriculum to our schools. Hannaford has supported this nonprofit organization through the Hannaford Helps Community Bag and Bloomin’ 4 Good Programs.

Tell us about Maine School Garden Network. The mission of the Maine School Garden Network (MSGN) is to promote and support educational gardens for youth and to encourage school programs that teach healthy eating and environmental stewardship. We’re a small organization with big ideas and benefit from the support of the Board of Directors, who are active in a number of partner organizations such as Maine Agriculture in the Classroom, Maine FoodCorps, Maine Farm and Sea to School Network, Maine Cooperative Extension and more!

What services do you provide to the community? We provide support and resources for school garden coordinators and educators to establish and maintain school gardens and outdoor classrooms. We help them to learn how to finance, manage and teach in a school garden, including lesson plans. Anyone can sign up for our informative monthly newsletter with themes such as Classroom Management, Greenhouses and Grant Writing. Our website is full of resources and includes our Garden Directory, which currently has more than 190 school gardens ranging from those just getting started with a raised bed to gardens established 20-30 years ago covering a half-acre! Our Facebook page posts articles, announcements and opportunities on a timely basis. Our services are available not only to school gardeners and teachers but also to the community at large. All our events and programs are open to the public. School gardens are not only used as a teaching tool but can provide produce for a local food pantry; some even have their own mini-farmers market! The school gardens also support the garden-to-cafeteria movement that has cropped up nationwide and is gaining traction here in Maine.

Maine School Garden Day is our signature one-day annual conference, held each May since 2005. This event provides topicspecific workshops, garden tours, networking opportunities and more for school garden volunteers, coordinators and educators. To be accessible to educators around the state, Maine School Garden Day is held in a different location each year. School Garden Grown is a program that provides an opportunity for local schools to promote awareness of their great work and show off their school garden’s bounty at their local fair. MSGN encourages schools to enter their produce in agricultural fairs, and we work with volunteers and fair personnel to display stickers on their produce once exhibition hall judging takes place. Since 2016, we’ve seen over 500 School Garden Grown entries across fairs in Maine! The biggest hurdle for a school garden is handling the summer season when schools are not in session. Our Program Organizer organizes School Garden Summer Tours around the state, with each location offering a chance to see school gardens in full bloom, learn different growing tips and techniques and exchange ideas to help keep school gardeners inspired while the students are on break. We also support a program managed by an organization called ReTreeUs that specifically addresses the challenge of managing a school garden over the summer called the Back to School Gardens. This program aligns the school garden and the school year by having students plant vegetables in the spring that require very minimal maintenance over the summer and produce a great harvest when students return to school in the fall and then enables them to plant seedlings of greens sourced from organic farms to extend the season when they return in the fall.

What sets you apart from other nonprofits in your community? We have a specific niche in that we’re supporting school garden educators. No one else is doing exactly what we are, and we partner with like-minded organizations to extend our reach and pool resources. For example, Maine Agriculture in the Classroom does a lot with training teachers, but they have a more agriculture-wide focus. We collaborate with them because together, we’re getting a more significant impact.

We have a specific niche in that we’re supporting school garden educators. No one else is doing exactly what we are… With competing interests in a school’s budget, it can be challenging to finance a paid garden educator position. Only about half of school garden coordinators are paid! Fortunately, we recently received two years of funding from the Sewall Foundation to offer an annual grant of $2,000 to each of five school gardens with our School Garden Caretakers Grant. Over the years, we noticed that many school gardens benefit from the continuity of a paid garden educator position. It can help increase recognition of the school garden program and elicit commitment from both the caretaker and the school.

Tell us a story that illustrates the good work of your organization. The Outdoor Classroom at Central School in South Berwick started in 2005 and serves as a great example of a multi-faceted, communitybased project that continues to evolve and make a difference in the education and health of its PreK-3rd grade students. Volunteer, staff and teacher initiatives are given valuable support from the school administration at every step of the way. Each year they continue to grow different crops to support diverse growing and harvesting experiences, connect the garden to the classroom and cafeteria and provide a vital space for outdoor exploration and play for their students! It began with a series of landscaping projects in 2005 organized by a group of committed parents, including flower barrels, perennial gardens, shrubs and trees planted to enhance the landscape around the school. Then an Outdoor Classroom was created, which includes an orchard, garden and play space that nurture a relationship with the natural world and provide a connection to growing and harvesting food. Taste tests in the classroom encourage students to try new vegetables and were started in 2010 by Kathy Gunst, a James Beard award-winning food journalist and the Resident Chef for NPR’s Here and Now. The Planting of the Green tradition was started with a special visit from master gardener John Forti, author of the Heirloom Gardener, who planted rainbow Swiss chard, curly kale and over a dozen other “green” treats. They celebrate the end of the growing season with a fall Harvest Festival where local chefs and parents work with every class and grade level for a week to create a full meal served at a school community dinner event at the end of the week. They also participate in Maine Agriculture in the Classroom events that support literacy and agriculture through the Read ME Agriculture program. Programs have included learning about maple syrup and honeybees and an all-school tomato planting event. Students planted pumpkins and sunflowers in May 2022 for harvest and exploration in the fall when the school community returned. In 2023, they organized an all-school planting of zinnias for students to take home to support the bee population.

What is your most outstanding achievement or contribution to the community? It’s the fact that we serve as such a good resource for school gardens in Maine. For example, when school gardens register in our directory, we ask them to identify their most significant need. Recently, a new listing indicated their most significant need was to find funding for their new school garden coordinator to get more training. I immediately thought of several options, including free online training out of California, and wrote back immediately. Since they are new to the school garden world, they wouldn’t have known all the available resources. We help with referrals and can always point people in the right direction. We aspire to have a longlasting effect and keep inspiring people and getting the information to them they need. Our program and event evaluations reinforce that we are meeting these needs!

What do you want people to know about Maine School Garden Network? Our assistance is open to anyone, and we want to ensure school gardeners have what they need to succeed. Whether their learning style suits doing online study best, or they need the in-person contact from coming to an event and meeting some of their counterparts and getting inspired that way, we have something for everyone, even though we are a small organization.

Our assistance is open to anyone, and we want to ensure school gardeners have what they need to succeed. While we are working hard to fund school gardeners and trying to help them get paid, we must raise every dollar we spend. The state does not fund us, nor do we exist under a parent organization. We’re always looking for support, whether from someone volunteering, joining our board, or donating. Every dollar counts with us and makes a difference!

How will you use the funds raised from the Hannaford Helps Community Bag and Bloomin’ 4 Good Programs? We use them for operating expenses such as running our programs, maintaining our website and publishing our newsletter. We have been lucky to have been picked by multiple stores and appreciate the support given to us by Hannaford customers!

Is there anything you’d like to add? I encourage people to go to our website and read all about us! There’s a lot of information and resources there about what’s going on in the school garden movement. I also want people to read the School Garden of the Month profiles; they’re so inspiring! I want to leave you with this thought. A school garden is not just about cute kids playing in the garden. A school garden is a serious educational tool to teach children in a different way, using a learn-by-doing model. Instead of doing math on paper, they’re measuring things in the garden, counting actual things and making plans. They see that some things thrive and some things fail and what you have to do to try again and do it better. There are so many life lessons in the garden. Our students need time outdoors and in nature, away from their devices and screens. We are growing the next generation of stewards of the earth!

Susan Joy Sager is Coordinator of the Maine School Garden Network.

04 Recruiting for Maine. BOOTS2ROOTS Boots2Roots is the only organization in Maine specifically focused on preparing active duty military members, up to a year before they begin their transition out of the service, for immediate success in Maine, while providing a pipeline of new workforce talent to Maine employers. Hannaford has supported Boots2Roots through the Hannaford Helps Community Bag and Bloomin’ 4 Good Programs.

Tell us about Boots2Roots. Boots2Roots was founded as a nonprofit in 2016. Our mission is to assist active duty military members in transitioning to meaningful life and work here in Maine. We also help their spouses and any veterans who may be outside of the state but want to relocate to Maine. While transitions are generally hard, we exist because transitions are especially hard for veterans who need to change careers and really start over again in life. Traditional transition programs and support networks exist in military communities around the country. Think of places like Southern California, D.C. and Virginia, North Carolina and Texas, with significant military communities. But here in Maine, there are no large military bases, so while there is a large per capita population of veterans in Maine, there aren’t those same military communities. The traditional pathways for active duty military to transition to employment after military service don’t exist here in Maine as they do in other places around the country. So, that’s why Boots2Roots was created; we’re trying to fill that gap and help make local connections for people who want to make Maine home but need to be connected to the communities and to the employers here to make that happen.

The traditional pathways for active duty military to transition to employment after military service don’t exist here in Maine as they do in other places around the country.

Our founder, Dave Hickey, is originally from the China Lakes region of Maine; he retired from the Air Force and moved back here with his family. He had a master’s degree with all kinds of executive experience, and he thought it would be easy for him to find work. Unfortunately, he found that was not the case; he struggled to get through HR screenings, to get a job interview, have somebody to call him back or even respond to his job application. He was really discouraged by that and felt that maybe Maine was not a place where he could be successful or call home, even though he wanted to raise his family here. If you don’t have a job, you can’t qualify for a mortgage and buy a house. Here’s someone who was very successful in his military career, returning to the state where he was from and didn’t feel like he belonged here or that there was a pathway to success. So, he started to think there must be other people that are experiencing these things as well. What if you’re not from Maine but are interested in coming to Maine? How in the world do you make it work? So, he just started very informally enlisting his friends to help. Then, in 2016, a board was formed, and the nonprofit was formally established to be more impactful and purposeful. The next step was to create a formal program to prove why the services are necessary and that we can impact successful outcomes for veterans leaving service. We’re also impacting our state’s workforce challenges. In Maine, more people leave the workforce than enter it every year. Every business that we talk to needs to hire someone. And there are stories in the news, repeatedly and more so every summer, where restaurants and other businesses that cater to the tourism industry can’t open or stay open for their entire work week because they can’t find enough employees. So not only are we helping the veteran community, but we’re also impacting Maine’s workforce shortage. That’s increasingly becoming our focus area and why it’s important to attract more veterans to the state, let them know about all the great opportunities in Maine and make Maine a more welcoming place for them.

What services do you provide to the community? Our program consists of two parts. The first is helping veterans translate their military skills into experiences that hiring managers will understand and find relatable. We do that through interview coaching and resumé coaching, that is, removing military jargon and language so a resumé is more relatable to a civilian employer.

Every one of our coaches lives and works in Maine. They’re connected to folks in Maine who need and want to hire veterans. Nationally there are a number of organizations that provide this type of service, but none are on the ground here in Maine. Every one of our coaches lives and works in Maine. They’re connected to folks in Maine who need and want to hire veterans. That networking is the second part of our program and our competitive advantage because we’re local to Maine. We have a peer network and mentor program. Veterans who have already transitioned and been successful in the state will pair with you to answer your questions and help you find the community that’s the right fit. Our peer mentors can answer questions people have when they’re moving, such as what the school system is like, what the commute is really like and what is the sense of community.

What sets you apart from other nonprofits in your community? It’s our purpose and our mission. Our mission is to get you hired within 60 days of your arrival in the state, and we have a 94% success rate. If you come through our program, you’ll find a job. We’re filling a need not only for veterans but also for the state’s workforce. And we’re producing results. Boots2Roots has a successful program. It’s a needed program. That’s why 2022 was our fifth straight year of growth, and we’re on track for another year of growth in 2023. We’re helping more veterans, who we call our teammates, get hired in Maine. The key to a successful transition is to start working with us 12 to 18 months before you arrive. We want to start working with you before you get here because it takes eight to 12 weeks under the best of circumstances to find work if you have to go through two or three interviews and a background check. If you’re trying to transition to a new career and you’re trying to move your family and establish a home, there are just so many things going on, from employment to schools for your kids to medical issues or having VA benefits properly administered. That early connection is the key that we’ve identified that leads to our teammates’ success. In today’s job environment, if you start working with us 12 to 18 months before transitioning out of the military, you will have a job before you show up here. That takes away the most significant burden and a lot of the anxiety that someone has. They know they have somebody in Maine that’s going to go to bat for them and get them the connections they need.

Tell us a story that illustrates the good work of your organization. Randy and Georgette Bell were stationed in Japan when they first contacted us. Neither of them was from Maine, but they wanted to come here to be closer to family in the Northeast. They were half a world away in Japan with two kids and knew nothing about the state. Georgette had recently graduated from dental hygienist school. We connected her with Catholic Charities, and she had a job before she arrived in Maine. We connected them with a realtor and got them in touch with the local school systems. We were able to find work for Randy as well. This story is typical of what we can do. They started working with us early in the process. Even though they were in Japan, we could work with them and make them feel like they were going to be successful. Maine gained a whole family, and they’re committed to being here for the long term. They’ve already bought their house, their kids are in school, both parents are working and the kids are now getting ready to enter the workforce. That’s the Boots2Roots story. We don’t charge anything for our services. We’re not a recruiting firm, and we’re not transactional in any way. We don’t charge the service member, and we don’t charge a business that hires one of our teammates. The best interest of the service member is no longer the top priority if we’re incentivized to get paid for placing a teammate. That’s not the business we want to be in.

What is your most outstanding achievement or contribution to the community? Number one is our 94% success rate and getting folks hired. But number two would be that we have a 92% success rate at 12-month retention in your first post-military job. More than nine out of 10 will stay in their first post-military job for 12 months or more.

The wider we can make that pathway to success here in Maine, the more people will have a successful transition and the more businesses will successfully hire our teammates.

Why is that important? It means it’s been a good fit for the teammate or the spouse. They’re happy with what they’re doing, but it’s also a good fit for the business. And if it’s a good fit for the business, they’re more likely to come back and hire another veteran the next time they have an opening. That helps establish the pathway. Because every person who leaves the military knows a hundred more people who are in the military, and everybody coming out of the military needs to find work. Two hundred thousand people transition out of the military every year. The wider we can make that pathway to success here in Maine, the more people will have a successful transition and the more businesses will successfully hire our teammates. That means it will be easier to follow the path to Maine and the process will sustain itself. Hopefully, that will be our long-lasting contribution to veteran health after service and Maine and Maine’s workforce.

What do you want people to know about Boots2Roots? For the teammates, contact us early. I know I’ve said this, but that’s the key to success. Don’t wait. If you are interested in coming to Maine, reach out to us early, even if it’s two years until you leave the military. There is a pathway to success for you here. For employers who might see this, please get in touch with us and help us connect veterans to your opportunities. Part of what we do is to share opportunities in Maine with the veterans and active duty military members who are looking to transition so that they understand all the different types of jobs available and the career pathways to success that exist in Maine.

How will you use the funds raised from the Hannaford Helps Community Bag and Bloomin’ 4 Good Programs? The funds go right back into the program. They’re used to expand our transition coaching capacity, which includes resumé and interview coaching for teammates to help them translate those skills into experiences that civilian hiring managers will understand. The funds also help spread the word about Boots2Roots, to let veterans know we exist. If you’re not in Maine but interested in coming here, you have to see and hear about Boots2Roots. And the only way to do that is to be in transition offices in every military base and every military community around the country. Funds will also be used to help educate veterans about the great opportunities here in Maine.

Is there anything you’d like to add? The big message is that there’s opportunity in Maine! There’s a whole team and a veteran infrastructure community ready to welcome more veterans to the state of Maine and businesses here are really interested in hiring veterans.

Bill Benson is Executive Director of Boots2Roots. He joined the organization in 2019 after a successful stint as the owner/operator of a small manufacturing business in Maine. Prior to owning his business and before moving to Maine in 2014, Bill spent 24 years on active duty with the United States Army.

Building increased resilience in Vermont's food system. SALVATION FARMS The team at Salvation Farms is driven by three primary goals: reducing food loss on farms, increasing the use of locally grown foods and fostering an appreciation for Vermont’s agricultural heritage and future. Hannaford has supported this nonprofit through the Fight Hunger Bag and Bloomin’ 4 Good Programs. Photos courtesy of Salvation Farms unless indicated otherwise

Tell us about Salvation Farms. I’m the founder of Salvation Farms, which started in 2005 after a pilot year at a farm where I was employed. We initially worked under the fiscal umbrella of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont. Following employment at Vermont Food Bank, where I developed some of their fresh produce handling systems, I chose to incorporate Salvation Farms in 2011, and we received our incorporation status in 2012. We started out as a gleaning organization. Our aim was to provide folks in the community with educational experiences that could influence and reacclimate their thinking about food sourcing but also build more community and individual agency through understanding what we have locally. Since then, our mission has evolved beyond just active gleaning to looking more at food system development. Now our focus is building food system resilience by managing farm surplus food, and we do this on a regional basis here in Vermont.

…our mission has evolved beyond just active gleaning to looking more at food systems development. Our goal is to create replicable models that could be adapted and implemented elsewhere. We’re interested in making systems-level change, and we’re interested in helping others do the same.

What services do you provide to the community? First and foremost, we see ourselves as a service provider to farms. We move available, edible food that they can’t afford to move. Then, beyond that, we also serve eaters in two different buckets. First as volunteers by providing an opportunity to have a hands-on experience, most likely on farms, where they can understand more about agriculture, local food systems and why good food doesn’t always make it to people. Then the other bucket of eaters are folks served by charitable or institutional food programs. We donate all the food from our gleaning to charitable sites, such as affordable and senior housing and pre-schools or sites that distribute food through a food shelf model or through a prepared meal. Then there are institutional food programs; this is an area that we’re really aspiring to scale up. This involved purchasing surplus food from farms, and then selling it to institutions, predominantly prisons, schools K through 12 and possibly hospitals. These institutions do their meal programs on pretty restrictive budgets, and they source a lot of food from out of state. Some of what we’re trying to do at the supply chain level is determine how can we help logistically move local surplus into those institutions at a price point that competes with outside sources. And really to do that work to scale, whether to serve charity or institutional food programs, we’re moving beyond just raw food. We’re also making frozen foods, and we hope down the road to do dried and possibly canned food as well.

What got me into this work is that I had agriculture in my childhood and in my family. I studied sustainable agriculture and natural resource management and ecology. Here in Vermont, people aren’t that far away from the land and home-based economies, so I already had that kind of philosophy baked into my being.

What sets you apart from other nonprofits in your community?

Tell us a story that illustrates the good work of your organization.

We are systems thinkers and crisis informed. We understand that there’s shared population vulnerabilities because the systems we all rely on are a little precarious; little things can throw off big systems. So, our systems approach will have a daily impact.

One story concerns our newer kinds of relationships. I recently met one of our funders and found that they distribute food to refugee families in a local town. We were able to provide some of the food that we glean from farms to their distribution. That’s a new expansion through just conversation and connections.

And I think the other thing about Salvation Farms that’s unique is that we’ve always been really inspired by leveraging relationships, collaborations and existing assets so that we don’t necessarily need to do everything ourselves. Often working in collaboration or using someone else’s assets can advance both parties’ missions, even if you’re in different sectors. For instance, model building; what if we can create a good model and then help other people set it up. It’s going to be more secure because there will be community investment and ownership.

We are systems thinkers and crisis informed. I would say the other thing about our uniqueness is that we definitely, at least from my perspective as a founder, make decisions with the understanding that ecological thinking is beyond the moment; it’s generational and interconnected. That also sets us apart.

We’ve done workforce development as well, and as we scale our frozen food production and some of our larger scale cleaning and packing, we will be doing workforce development again. One story I’d like to share regards one of our workforce development participants. This was in a large facility where we would bring in literally tons of carrots or potatoes; we would clean and pack them into smaller packages and put them on pallets where they could be ordered in bulk and easily inventoried and distributed through a larger food bank or pantry. Our training program was sixteen weeks in length. We welcomed anyone that we thought could be successful, and we wanted to engage people that had real barriers to employment, whether it was physical, mental or emotional, or a life condition like a violent felony conviction, substance misuse or homelessness. We engaged an individual who had a career in truck driving but was losing their eyesight. They had moved to Vermont to live with their exwife. Since going through our program and accessing other social support programs, they found their own place to live. They were employed by another visually impaired employer and have since taken over the role of managing that business. Another story concerns an individual who was convicted of a violent felony who came into our program; they couldn’t get employed anywhere because of that record. In the beginning this person was walking to work with us; then they took a bus. They reestablished their license and were able to drive; towards the end of the program, they drove their housemate’s vehicle. Once they completed our program, they were offered a job making upwards of $18 an hour with benefits. Three months later, they pulled in to visit us at our facility with a car they had just purchased.

What is your most outstanding achievement or contribution to the community? I think our largest contribution is the fact that we are doing something different. There are organizations that do similar work. We’re not the only gleaning organization; we’re not the only organization that moves food to charitable food sites. But we are looking at using an existing resource that has gone unused or not valued, and we’ve made the effort to try to figure out what we have to do as a people to use this food more wisely to meet our food needs now and in the future.

I think our largest contribution is the fact that we are doing something different. Doing something new is probably our greatest accomplishment and being persistent in trying different models and approaches, stumbling and trying again to succeed.

What do you want people to know about your organization? Most folks think that we work in the anti-hunger realm or food access or food security and yes, we do, but not in the short-term way that most people think about addressing hunger or food insecurity. We are addressing how we can reduce population vulnerability to food insecurity.

How do you use the funds raised from the Hannaford Fight Hunger Reusable Bag and Bloomin’ 4 Good Programs? We use those funds and any funds invested in our mission to keep fighting the good fight, to keep showing up every day to do the on-the-ground work in our community, creating models that are trailblazing and that allow us to show the way to others as well.

Theresa Snow is Founder and Executive Director of Salvation Farms.

2023

Impact Stories Hannaford Helps Reusable Bag Program & Bloomin’ 4 Good Program

For more information about the programs and to view even more impact stories, please visit hannaford.2givelocal.com

BAGS 4 MY CAUSE Emma Richardson Senior Program Manager 603.380.9400, ext.112 emmar@psitmatters.com

BLOOMIN 4 GOOD Jim Brennan Co-Founder and COO 603.380.9400, ext.100 jimb@psitmatters.com