Dr. Nirav Shah speaks on hunger at naming ceremony for Midcoast food warehouse
May 9—The Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program revealed a new name for its warehouse and administrative building on Thursday with a speech from former Maine and US public health official Dr. Nirav Shah.
MCHPP's Brunswick Landing facility was named the Wright Center for Food Security, after donor Tom Wright, whose contribution allowed the organization to officially purchase the facility last year.
Speakers at Thursday's event touched on the importance of food security programs amid a growing cost of living and federal cuts that have threatened to handicap food banks and other organizations that aid underserved populations.
"If we're not able to feed people, then we really have to question what it means to have a community," Shah said.
Shah, who now works as a visiting professor at Colby College in Waterville, became the face of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention during the COVID-19 pandemic and went on to become the principal deputy director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under President Joe Biden.
He gained a following among Mainers due to his daily television briefings in which he explained the coronavirus to the public and fielded journalists' questions.
While the number of Mainers experiencing food insecurity is increasing, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has cut key programs that provide food to states, like The Emergency Food Assistance Program and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program.
"The demand for services at the Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program saw its highest spike ever, just in the fist few months of this year alone," Shah told the crowd outside of MHPP's facility. "And so the work that is being done is more critical than ever, not just for all of the families that are affected, but for all our us; not just for public health, but for our community as a whole."
Despite federal cuts and the impact of inflation, MCHPP executive director Hannah Chatalbash said the organization distributed more than 1.2 million meals last year. This was made possible through volunteers and donors like Wright, she said.
"You helped us expand our partnerships with local farms and markets. You made it possible for us to invest in education and outreach and innovative solutions that don't just fill plates, but empower lives," Chatalbash said. "The Wright Center is more than a building, it's a symbol of what can happen when a community comes together."
Shah asked audience members to consider the question: "What do we owe each other?"
"Increasingly, it's becoming more common to say that the answer to that question is that we owe each other nothing," Shah said. "The more I thought about these issues, the more you realize that the answers to these problems start in our own communities."
Also speaking Thursday, Wright said it has been "a privilege" to contribute to MCHPP's mission.
"There is no amount of money, ingenuity, legislating, or political maneuvering that will make up for the deficit of human decency, brotherliness and heartfelt goodwill," Wright said. "This is, however, the very fabric of what Mid Coast Hunger Prevention does: human decency, brotherliness, and heartfelt goodwill."
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