By Rep. Parnell Terry
While we are in the midst of the holiday season, I hope you get to enjoy gathering with family and friends for Christmas, New Years and other festivities in the upcoming weeks.
This year, I know the holidays may be particularly challenging for many in our community. The rising cost of living is continuing to squeeze family budgets, making it harder for working families to make ends meet – let alone get ahead.
In the Legislature, we have been working to combat hunger, especially among our youngest Mainers. Across the state, nearly 192,000 Mainers are still struggling to access enough food, including over 50,000 children.
To help address this, we extended funding this year for universal breakfast and lunch for all K-12 students in Maine’s public schools. For many kids, these are the only certain meals they’ll receive in a day – and this program has helped to ensure that they don’t have to learn on empty stomachs.
We also doubled Maine’s Child Tax Credit to $600 per child for children under six, for families earning under $150,000 per year. This will put money directly back into the pockets of working families in Gorham and help lower rates of hunger and child poverty. But we still have a long way to go to end food insecurity in Maine.
Unfortunately, the recent federal government shutdown created significant chaos and confusion around the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly referred to as SNAP. And federal funding for this anti-hunger program that puts food on the table for Maine children, veterans and seniors is being used as a political cudgel. We should be doing more – not less – to ensure that Mainers don’t have to worry where their next nutritious meal will come from. That will be a big focus for me when the Legislature reconvenes for the upcoming session in January.
If you are struggling to afford to pay for groceries, please know that local help is also available. You can stop by the Gorham Food Pantry at 299-B on Main Street on Thursday mornings from 10 to noon. You can also give them a call for more information at 207-222-4351 or email them at director@gorhamfoodpantry.org.
The pantry is sustained in large part by generous donations from local businesses and community members. If you feel you are able to, please consider donating this holiday season. I am so grateful to get to live in – and represent – such a supportive community that always comes together to help our neighbors in need.
You could also join members of our community at one of our local holiday dinners. The Westbrook-Warren Congregational Church is having a free Christmas dinner on Thursday, Dec. 25 from 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. at 810 Main Street in Westbrook. Stop by to eat or pick up a takeout meal or two. For more information, call 207-854-9157 or email office@westbrookwarren.com.
No one here in Maine should have to decide between putting food on the table or paying their bills. I will continue to work as hard as I can to provide Gorham families with the resources they need not just to survive, but to get ahead and provide a better future for themselves and their loved ones.
As always, please feel free to contact me at Parnell.Terry@legislature.maine.gov with your questions and concerns. I am here to serve you, and I can do that best by hearing directly from you. Maine people deserve leaders who are fighting to keep our communities strong, ensuring we can all afford to live out healthy, prosperous lives in this great state we call home.
Rep. Terry is serving his first term in the Maine House and represents part of Gorham. Terry is a member of the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee and the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee.