Ending Hunger Corps - Healthy Lincoln County, Damariscotta

What if one year of service could reshape how an entire county accesses healthy food and help Maine be closer to ending hunger? As the Ending Hunger Corps Food Systems VISTA, you¿ll join Healthy Lincoln County, a community-driven public health organization dedicated to ensuring everyone has access to nutritious food, supportive connections, and dignified care. Our work spans countywide food security initiatives, gleaning partnerships, the state¿s largest Summer Meals Program, and collaborative efforts to strengthen the local food system. Based in Damariscotta and serving all of Lincoln County, the Food Systems VISTA will create sustainable systems that expand food recovery, strengthen volunteer engagement, and support early assessment and planning for the Darrows Barn Food Hub-- a shared community storage and prep space that is a regional asset for food access organizations. This project is essential because rural coastal Maine continues to experience high levels of food insecurity shaped by transportation barriers, fluctuating seasonal populations, limited distribution points, and rising food costs. To meet these challenges, organizations need strong coordination tools, reliable volunteer structures, and well-organized partnerships. The VISTA¿s work will build the long-term infrastructure necessary to expand gleaning, deepen collaboration, and increase the volume and consistency of healthy food reaching local families. By the end of service, the Food Systems VISTA will leave behind durable systems- volunteer onboarding tools, partner maps, communication workflows, and engagement frameworks- that strengthen Lincoln County¿s food security network and support a more resilient future. The VISTA member will join a cohort working to end hunger across the state of Maine as part of Ending Hunger Corps, a cohort model VISTA program sponsored by Maine's Department of Agriculture, Conservation, Forestry (DACF): https://www.maine.gov/dacf/ag/endinghungercorps/index.shtml.