Inmate program in Machias seeks to grow food and job skills
Courtesy / Health Acadia
From left: Jail Administrator Rich Rolfe; Washington County Sheriff Barry Curtis; Healthy Acadia Food Programs Manager Regina Grabrovac; Jeanine Mallar-Heald and Melissa Denbow of Machias Savings Bank; and Mark McBrine of the Maine Department of Corrections.
A community garden project in Machias aims to advance healthy food in jails and prisons in the region and build work skills among inmates.
Regional partners are in the process of mowing and tilling ground this month for Downeast Restorative Harvest, a community garden project in Machias.
The Washington County Jail, Maine Department of Corrections, UMaine Cooperative Extension, and Healthy Acadia are working together to launch the collaborative garden project.
Goals include:
• Advance healthy food in the jails and prisons in the region;
• Increase the amount of healthy local food going to people experiencing hunger throughout the region;
• Provide jail residents with meaningful, healthful work that can reduce their jail sentences and/or provide income;
• Provide jail residents with education and skill building to support future employment, health and well-being;
• Provide similar opportunities to community members.
Washington County commissioners provided several acres of land that will serve as the home for the garden. The Washington County Jail and the Maine Department of Corrections are providing in-kind support to launch the project.
It’s expected that a cover crop will be planted this fall with additional fieldwork continuing next spring.
Downeast Restorative Harvest was funded by sponsors and grantors, including Machias Savings Bank, Witham Family Hotels Charitable Fund, and individual supporters.
Donations are still being accepted at bit.ly/restorative-harvest or via check (with memo “Downeast Restorative Harvest” included) by mail to Healthy Acadia, P.O. Box 1710, Ellsworth, ME 04605.
For more information about the project, contact Regina Grabrovac at Healthy Acadia’s Washington County office, 255-3741 or regina@healthyacadia.org.
Healthy Acadia is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that engages in a broad range of initiatives to build healthier communities and make it easier for people to lead healthy lives across Washington and Hancock counties.
Last month, Healthy Acadia and Impact Justice, an Oakland, Calif., nonprofit, held a dinner and conversation about food justice in Maine’s prisons and jails. Impact Justice sparked a national conversation about the poor quality of food in prison through its 2020 report, “Eating Behind Bars.” The organization is teaming up with chef Dan Giusti and his company Brigaid – a New London, Conn., chefs organization whose mission is to build the capacity of institutional kitchens and their staff — to launch Chefs in Prisons, a first-of-its-kind pilot project aims to improve food service operations and serve healthier meals in all of Maine's prisons and also provide culinary training to incarcerated people.
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