NEWS & UPDATES
Portland City Council approves block grant spending
on March 29, 2016@DavidHarry81SHARESHARE TWEET SHARE SHARE 0 COMMENTS PORTLAND — City councilors settled one budget question Monday, then got a glimpse into the future of city spending and operations. By a unanimous vote, the council approved the fiscal year 2017 block grant spending plan proposed by City Manager Jon Jennings earlier this month. The
Society Notebook: Dessert and Coffee Pairing proves a fun, yummy end to Restaurant Week
“We start Restaurant Week with breakfast and we end it with dessert,” said Gillian Britt of gBritt PR, who co-founded Maine Restaurant Week with her husband, Jim. “This is such a fun event, and all of the retail sales during this pairing benefit Preble Street here in Portland.” Read more.
Maine Voices: State must end shameful food stamp policies that worsen hunger problem
… As Mainers, we should be ashamed of the growing numbers of kids and seniors with empty stomachs, fewer households eligible for crucial help augmenting their meager budgets, and more and more people lining up at food pantries and soup kitchens. At Preble Street, we serve 1,200 meals each day at three soup kitchens and
Maine lobster taco wins the Incredible Breakfast Cook-Off in Restaurant Week kickoff
Chef Isaac P. Aldrich of the Sebasco Harbor Resort in Phippsburg won the Incredible Breakfast Cook-Off Friday with his Maine Lobster Breakfast Taco … … The Incredible Breakfast Cook-Off raised $4,000 for Preble Street this year. Preble Street provides services for the homeless and focuses on issues of housing, hunger and poverty. Read more!
Police urge Maine lawmakers to help put drug users in treatment, not jail
… Mike Smith, a representative from the grassroots group Homeless Voices for Justice based at Portland’s Preble Street center, said programs such as LEAD have worked well in other states. A recovering alcoholic, Smith said he was able to turn his life around and avoid jail by accessing treatment when he needed it. But he
Maine Foodie Tours announces 12 months of giving campaign
PORTLAND – Maine Foodie Tours, the company that has brought culinary walking tours to Portland, Kennebunkport, Bar Harbor and Rockland, has announced its new “12 Months of Giving” campaign. Each month, a portion of ticket sales purchased for Maine Foodie Tours will be donated to a different Maine charity or organization. “We want to take
The Heroin Epidemic Is Turning My Soup Kitchen Into an Emergency Room
In August, she drove two miles, past a large hospital, to get her boyfriend to our soup kitchen, but not for the food. She knew someone here would have Narcan, a life-saving overdose-reversing drug that, until recently, was unavailable here in Maine to people at risk of overdosing. Her boyfriend was bluish and slumped over
Our View: Food banks’ rapid growth shows Maine falling short
… Charities rely on volunteer labor and a patchwork of organizations, each with its own rules and goals. Only the government is big enough to consistently penetrate every corner of the state and get food to the people who need it. And even if there were no gaps for people to fall through in the
Two people found in Portland homeless count
PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — Even with the milder winter we’ve had so far, the weather this time of year is dangerous for homeless people. In Portland, volunteers hit the streets for the annual Point-in-Time homeless survey. They found two people. Only people who can be identified count toward the official total. For example, volunteers
Annual survey shows Portland’s problem of homelessness by the numbers
… William Burney, director of the HUD field office in Maine, and Jon Bradley, associate director of Preble Street, an agency that serves homeless people, participated in Wednesday night’s survey. Despite an overall decline in homelessness, Portland officials have noted an increase in homeless people sleeping outside, even as encampments and overgrown areas around the
Number of homeless people sleeping on streets in Portland doubles
PORTLAND (WGME) — After noticing an alarming amount of people sleeping on the streets, officials with Preble Street say they jumped into action. Preble Street Executive Director Mark Swann says in October they noticed more people spending the night outside, so they decided to sit down and do a count. He says a handful of
Concern for Homeless Population as Temperatures Drop
As the temperature falls, the concern is growing for the homeless population in Portland, Maine. Mark Swann, Director of the Preble Street shelter, worries the number of people sleeping outside in the cold is growing. In October, Preble Street staff counted 88 people sleeping in camps or on the streets in Portland. Swann said that
