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Maine groups team up to combat child hunger

With Maine listed as having the third-highest rate of food insecurity in the country, Maine Medical Center’s pediatrics unit is teaming up with the Preble Street Maine Hunger Initiative to help reduce that number. The Hunger Vital Sign program connects patients with food options that they may not have otherwise, the hospital said. “It’s really

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Fighting Human Trafficking

It is happening here in Maine and many people are not aware of it. We are talking about human trafficking, and it comes in many forms. Fiona Mason and Donna Yellen from Preble Street’s Anti-trafficking Coalition join us to talk about this problem in our state. Feel free to ask questions and we will try

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Maine Homeless Veterans Committee Delivers Annual Update on Vet Homelessness

The Maine Homeless Veterans Action Committee delivered its annual update on the state of veteran homelessness Wednesday. An estimated 278 veterans became homeless last year in Maine. 192 of them were housed by local organizations. Data was collected from emergency shelters and community volunteers to create a better understanding of who the homeless are as

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Our View: Addiction, homelessness must be fought together

Whether a person is homeless as a result of a spiraling drug problem, or abusing drugs to cope with life on the street, homelessness and addiction are inexorably linked. Feeding off each other, and on what is perhaps the most vulnerable population, they cause a tremendous amount of suffering, and fuel a public health crisis

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We’re reversing opioid overdoses, but we’d rather help people change

I’ve worked at Preble Street in Portland, Maine, for 26 years and never thought I’d see the day when our social workers are reversing opioid overdoses on a regular basis. In my first 22 years here, we had no overdoses. Zero. Now every eight days we find someone on a bathroom floor, lips blue, not breathing. Preble Street

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Mark Swann talks about Preble Street food programs

Preble Street Executive Director Mark Swann is a guest on Maine Points. There are many ways to describe Preble Street: drop-in centers, soup kitchens, food pantry, shelters, social work services, supported housing. These descriptions only tell part of the Preble Street story. Marks talks about the many ways Preble Street works to turn hunger and

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Medicaid expansion can help Maine’s homeless veterans access care

Refusal to expand Maine’s Medicaid program has left many homeless veterans to suffer in shelters and on the street. Maine has the fifth highest per capita population of veterans in the nation, and Medicaid is essential for veterans. Yet we have repeatedly turned our backs. Veterans are more likely to experience homelessness than the overall population, and

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Maine Voices: Those trapped by human traffickers can benefit from Preble Street program

A recently published article (“Trafficking victims turn to hotline with pleas for help,” Oct. 1) spoke to the horrors of human trafficking and the important efforts of the National Human Trafficking Hotline in reaching survivors. The highest volume of calls coming through the hotline originate from big cities, but trafficking can and does happen everywhere, to women

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