All people deserve access to good food.

Daybreak Growers Alliance works with a robust network of farmers, nonprofits and community leaders to inform and facilitate our food access programming. Our hunger relief partners receive the same food as our farmbox subscribers, harvested fresh to order. We are so grateful to all who make this critical work possible – farmers, Daybreak subscribers, partnering organizations and community members throughout Maine! Below are some of our key areas of programming and partnerships.

Daybreak Subscriber Contributions

Daybreak’s Farmbox subscribers contribute $1 of every $2.75 handling & delivery fee with each farmbox purchase, this goes directly to support our food access programming and allows us to purchase more food for community food pantries. 

Farm to Pantry

Our cornerstone farm to pantry program is through Waldo County Bounty. Cofounded with Daybreak Growers Alliance in 2020 with continued close partnership, this local initiative close to home makes it possible for us to purchase from farm partners and direct fresh produce to 16 hunger relief organizations in Waldo County. In 2025, Waldo County Bounty has generously fundraised and contributed $45,000 to the Waldo County Farm to Pantry program. You can learn more here.

The past three years Daybreak also had access to federal USDA Local Food Program Agreement funding. This allowed us to purchase and distribute almost $500,000 of Maine grown product to over 100 food pantries through hunger relief organizations throughout the State to our neighbors in the most need. The federal funds that were promised for program continuation 2025-2028 were cancelled by the federal government March 7th, 2025. Read story here.

Stay tuned for updates on how we are working collaboratively with partners throughout the State whose LFPA funding for the next three years was also cancelled. Our hope is, with your help, we can preserve these critical distribution networks, markets for farmers and local food donations to Mainers in need.

Farm to School Food Pantries

This year, we will be partnering with Peak Season, our sister business, to purchase and deliver $45,000 of food from our farm partners to three school food pantries as part of Peak Season’s School Food System Innovation project. Good Shepherd Food Pantry will consult on this work, and distribute shelf stable pantry foods to 130+ school food pantries Statewide. Peak Season will be partnering with Daybreak Growers, Waldo County Bounty and Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness in 2025 and 2026 to establish distribution at school pantries in Downeast, Northern and Waldo County Maine.