EAST MILLINOCKET – Donations continue to pour into the Katahdin region helping hundreds of people affected by the 84-day shutdown of bankrupt Great Northern Paper Inc.

The latest donations include 35,000 pounds of food from a Missouri-based charitable organization and a $25,000 check from J.D. Irving Ltd., a privately owned forest products company with headquarters in St. John, New Brunswick.

After a 30-hour trip from Missouri, Convoy of Hope’s red-and-white painted tractor-trailer loaded with food arrived early Thursday morning at the Calvary Temple Assembly of God church in East Millinocket. The Convoy of Hope is a nonprofit organization that provides disaster relief to people in the United States and around the world.

Dozens of displaced paper company workers and 15 members of the church’s youth group formed a human chain to unload the huge assortment of food from the truck into the church’s basement pantry. The shipment included a variety of canned vegetables, meat, juices, soda and pasta, crackers, chips and more.

Pastor Reggie Adams said he was overwhelmed. “It’s almost unbelievable that this could come from Springfield, Missouri, to East Millinocket, Maine,” he said.

Adams estimates the church has distributed 10 tons of food to people affected by the paper company shutdown. The pastor said he was amazed that none of the cost of the food came from the church’s general fund, but the money to buy it came either from cash donations or from food donations. “That is just some kind of miracle,” he said.

The delivery came just in time to help replenish the church pantry’s dwindling food supply.

Late last week, Adams and Jonathan Birt, who has been instrumental in coordinating the church’s food relief efforts, had expressed concern about the low food supply. On Friday, Adams received a call from the Missouri-based organization saying a truckload of food would be on its way Monday morning.

Deb Rountree, director of the Katahdin Region Higher Education Center in East Millinocket, received a check for $25,000 from J.D. Irving Ltd. “It was an incredibly generous offer to the people of the Katahdin region,” said Rountree. “It’s wonderful to know that our neighbors to the north have such support for the region.”

Mary Keith, Irving’s spokeswoman, said the Canadian company has operated businesses in Aroostook County for more than 50 years.