UNE鈥檚 Jennifer Gunderman featured in story about volunteering during COVID-19
Jennifer Gunderman, M.P.H., director of the Maine Area Health Education Center and assistant clinical professor of at the 51品茶, was recently featured in a sprawling piece in the Maine Monitor about the ways in which Maine鈥檚 people have volunteered in their communities throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
The article, 鈥淪tepping out and helping out,鈥 which was also shared in the Penobscot Bay Pilot, chronicles many Mainers鈥 acts of community service throughout the year. Gunderman was prominently featured in the article鈥檚 lead section about volunteers harvesting produce at the Maine Coastal Regional Reentry Center鈥檚 fields in Swanville this August.
Typically, inmates serve their last few months of incarceration working the fields as part of their rehabilitation. But with jail cells cleared due to the pandemic, there have not been enough inmates to meet the reentry center鈥檚 needs.
Gunderman joined several others to harvest food at the 18-acre farm, which this year will produce 200,000 pounds of vegetables this year. The food will go to more than two dozen food pantries, soup kitchens, and other places where people in need can access the food.
鈥淭he Reentry Center has done amazing things. How can we let all this food go to waste?鈥 Gunderman told reporter Susan Cover.