November is Hunger Awareness Month.

It is a fact that people in the richest country in the world go hungry. In fact, USDA research indicates that 10 percent of U.S. households experience limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods.

The Community Partners in Ending Hunger is a local group committed to finding community solutions to end hunger in the Alton, Argyle, Bradley, Greenbush and Greenfield area, Indian Island, Milford, Old Town and Orono. Our goal is to ensure that no family experience food insecurity – skipping meals or cutting portions. We believe every person – adult and children – should have enough food to eat and the right food to eat for good health.

Hunger robs a community’s children of their future, limits their potential and their opportunities for success. Communities can find solutions.

The first step in that work is to identify the level of food insecurity in the area. That data will be collected through a hunger survey administered this month. A random sample of residents will be asked to participate in a confidential and anonymous scientific survey.

The call only takes 10 minutes and the information is critical to our efforts to respond to hunger where we live and to make everyone aware of how serious the hunger problem is. We encourage anyone contacted by our callers to participate in the study. It’s a way we can all be part of ending hunger in Maine, the United States, and the world.

Marty Kelley

Orono