Welcome Maggie Mae’s!

Thanks to the growing support from the community we are excited to have Maggie Mae’s, a new food business in Yarmouth, join Cooking for Community. In their first week, they prepared 100 meals for Amistad, who then drove to deliver these comforting meals directly to those in need. 

We took a moment to ask Maggie Mae’s what this moment in history is teaching us about food insecurity in Maine and what made them want to be a part of Cooking for Community.

“When lockdown first started, everyone was under the impression that this would be a two week period of unsettlement and then things would go back to how they were,” replied Kate Griffin-Peelen, co-owner with her husband, John Peelen. “As time stretched on, news of unemployment and food insecurity started to dominate the news. It was heartbreaking; watching story after story of vulnerable people having to struggle to find their next meal was something that struck a chord. John and I were at a loss for how to help. We had a brand new food business that was set up to make people’s lives easier through our grab ‘n go, chef prepared meals. And yet the people who needed them most seemed just out of reach. It was very clear that no one was doing well in this pandemic, but we wanted to try and find an opportunity to do good. Cooking for Community was that opportunity.

“As this pandemic stretched on, it brought to light just how many people are living paycheck to paycheck with limited or no savings. So much of our economy runs on the summer season, and for that time to be so bluntly disrupted shows us that business as we would normally know it will not exist this year. As such, it is really important that programs like Cooking for Community are supported and funded, so no Mainer has to worry about having access to nutritious food.

“This pandemic has shed light on many of the broken pieces in people’s lives; it is important now to reassemble them and make them into something that is stronger for the future. Staying focused on the good around us and being grateful for what we have is our mission now more than ever.”