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On a recent rainy April day, Luke Valleli and other University of Maine Honors College students pushed a cart filled with cupcakes, whoopie pies, brownies, cookies and other desserts from building to building to raise money for tackling food insecurity. That effort, coupled with other fundraising and partnerships, paid off when they secured enough money to purchase the ingredients for 80,000 meals for food pantries across the state. 

Those meals will be assembled during the Maine Day Meal Packout (MDMP) on Wednesday, April 29, from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. in the New Balance Field House. 

“Hundreds of volunteers — spanning individual students and faculty, community partners, sports teams and entire classes — show up to work together and accomplish an incredible amount of work,” said Valleli, an ecology and environmental sciences major who serves as the MDMP marketing and communications chair. “What the Maine Day Meal Packout initiative does communicate is that countless people — from the hundreds of individual volunteers packing each meal to the devoted student leaders or the philanthropic backers of the event — are willing to show up and make a difference together.”

Led by the members of the MDMP student leadership team, which includes Valleli, the initiative is on track to exceed last year’s goal of assembling and distributing over 50,000 meals in just a few hours. By the end of the event, the MDMP will mark the 800,000th meal packed at 91���� since the initiative launched.

The project originated in 2017 as the “Hungry 100K,” after students were challenged to surpass Harvard as the top meal-packing university in New England. Spearheaded by Melissa Ladenheim, associate dean of the Honors College, the initiative rebranded as the Maine Day Meal Packout in 2018. Since then, it has maintained a consistent impact, even continuing through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and campus cancellations.

“The Maine Day Meal Packout is a truly extraordinary, transformative event that brings the campus together in service of a key element of 91����’s land-grant mission: to have a positive impact on the broader community of which we are a part,” said Honors College Dean Ellen Weinauer. “Thanks to the remarkable and enduring effort on the part of student leaders and their mentors, the Maine Day Meal Packout has justifiably become one of the 91���� initiatives of which we can be most proud.”

In addition to bake sales, the student leadership team fundraised for the event through soliciting individual donations, garnering support from philanthropic organizations, participating in broader initiatives like the Maine Credit Union League’s Campaign for Ending Hunger and securing grants such as the Alton ’38 and Adelaide Hamm Campus Activity Fund.

“Maine is a small and tight-knit community, so when I’m presenting to fellow Mainers, everyone I’m speaking to has seen the impact of hunger,” said Ruth Griffith, a senior majoring in economics and the 2026 Valedictorian. Griffith serves as the MDMP fundraising chair and overall student coordinator. “When speaking with corporate donors who may not realize the scope of the Maine Day Meal Packout, I focus on the scale of their contribution. For example, I discuss how a $1,000 donation could feed 2,500 people, and how that goes a long way toward feeding hungry Mainers.”

Most participating food pantries pick up the meals at 91����, but students have delivered them to those that cannot come to campus to ensure people gain-access to much needed sustenance. Pantry operators sometimes join other volunteers in packing meals during the event. 

“The pickup and distribution of the meals is definitely the hardest part because some of our partners have a three-hour commute each way,” said Jasper Makowski, a senior majoring in microbiology who works directly with the food pantry recipients. “Taking the time to get to Orono is a huge challenge, especially for some of the mom-and-pop operations. Luckily, we have a great number of supporters who are willing to drive and deliver to some of these rural locations, but a significant challenge every year is making sure we can actually get the meals to the food bank.”

Students drive the success of the MDMP, gaining leadership skills through a committee system covering fundraising, outreach, partnerships, communications and logistics. For student leaders like Makowski, Griffith and Valleli, the event offers a tangible way to support fellow Mainers while developing professional expertise in project management.

“The Maine Day Meal Packout is a ‘win-win-win’—it’s a win for our students, it’s a win for the campus and it’s a win for the community,” said Ladenheim. “I am incredibly grateful for this year’s student leadership team. This group has been the most cohesive, collaborative and effective team I have ever worked with.”

Story by Alexa Rose Perocillo, news intern

Contact: Marcus Wolf, 207.581.3721; marcus.wolf@maine.edu��