BREWER – More than 34 area unions, small businesses and farmers came together Tuesday and collected food to feed Thanksgiving meals to 150 local displaced union employees, many who lost their jobs in January when Eastern Fine Paper Co. closed its doors.

“We expect to feed over 1,000 people,” Jack McKay, president of the Greater Bangor Area Central Labor Council, predicted.

The Solidarity Harvest is sponsored by the labor council, which is composed of 28 local labor unions and Food and Medicine, a labor council initiative to support the creation of good-paying jobs and a social safety net for workers.

Several displaced workers who picked up food baskets Tuesday at the labor council on Ayer Street said they appreciated the assistance.

“It really hits home knowing that when a Mainer is in trouble, you can always count on another Mainer to help out,” Mike Woodbury, a displaced Eastern Fine worker from Bangor, said.

“It’s people helping people,” said Peter Coppa, a displaced worker and former president of the Eastern Fine labor union. “That’s what we need to do more often.”

Jim Carson, president of the Teamsters Local No. 340, which covers the state, was at the labor council on Tuesday to congratulate the partners on working together to provide the meals.

“Labor has long been involved in these types of endeavors,” he said. “The difference is this is an ongoing partnership … to go long beyond Thanksgiving Day.”

International Paper millworkers in Bucksport are major contributors to the Solidarity Harvest and the labor council and have continued to give money to help laid-off millworkers.

“Over the past year and a half, they have donated over $50,000, mostly through gate collections,” McKay said.

If other organizations and communities helped out in the same way, displaced workers would have less to worry about, he said.

A total of 16 area farms contributed fresh produce for the Solidarity Harvest, including Dennis King of King Hill Farm in Penobscot.

“We donated carrots and beets,” he said. “We’ve always been supportive of our local communities, and we’ve always thought it was important to be supportive of our local unions.”