BANGOR – Area food cupboards and shelters have eight days to apply for a new pool of funds that was awarded to Penobscot County under the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Food and Shelter program, the United Way announced Wednesday.

The deadline for contacting the United Way with applications for funding is Dec. 29.

The funds will be distributed through an area FEMA board, which will determine how the funds received by Penobscot County will be distributed. The board, headed by John Bragg of N.H. Bragg & Sons, is responsible for recommending agencies to receive these and any additional funds available under this phase of the program.

In order to receive aid under the terms of the grant, local governmental or private voluntary organizations must be nonprofit; have an accounting system or fiscal agent approved by the local board; practice nondiscrimination; have demonstrated the capability to deliver food and-or shelter programs; and must have a voluntary board if it is a private voluntary organization.

United Way of Eastern Maine administers the program for Penobscot County as a service to the community. Last year, 20 agencies received funding to provide emergency food and shelter programs in Penobscot Counties as a result of FEMA funding. To apply for funding, contact Norma Proulx at United Way of Eastern Maine at 941-2800, no later than Dec. 29.