For decades, churches in Maine and the Northeast have seen their memberships shrink. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit last year, they worried that without being able to pass collection plates at services, or to hold fundraisers such as suppers and craft fairs, they would be forced to close their doors forever.
Thanks largely to an influx of approximately $20 million in federal loans that hundreds of Maine religious organizations received, and because of reduced operating costs from shutting down buildings and offices, most of Maine’s houses of worship have survived.
Along with churches and other houses of worship, those organizations include religious schools, food pantries, individual clergy and organizations such as Volunteers of America, whose roots are in the religious social justice movement of the early 20th century, according to a database of Paycheck Protection Program recipients posted online by FederalPay.org. The federal Paycheck Protection Program loans that the groups received enabled them to continue paying nearly 4,000 employees during the pandemic.
While the federal money helped churches pay staff, utilities and embrace online streaming, some, including First United Methodist Church in Bangor, found ways to flourish by trying things they’d never considered before.
For the past 15 years, the primary fundraiser for the church on Essex Street has been its monthly bean suppers held on the fourth Saturday of each month. The money from that event helps pay for the weekly free community meal the congregation offers and other church missions.
When the pandemic shuttered the church doors, bean supper coordinator Mary Beth Allen wondered how the people who regularly prepared the meals, many of whom were high risk for COVID-19 due to their age, could work 6 feet apart in the kitchen.
“A few people suggested that we try takeout but we were stuck in the mode of sit-down [meals],” she said. “After a spring and summer without doing them, my husband and I got cabin fever. We figured out that we could reduce our offerings, use three or four helpers, spread out and wear masks. It turned out that because the church is set back from the street and we have this large circular driveway, we were perfectly set up for takeout.”
From left (clockwise): Lesley Whittington scoops beans into containers for a drive-thru bean supper fundraiser at First United Methodist Church on Essex Street in Bangor; As Lesley Whittington (right) scoops beans into containers, Judy Smith (center) and Pastor Steve Smith (left) put lids on and label each one before a drive-thru bean supper fundraiser on Saturday, April 24, 2021 at First United Methodist Church; Lesley Whittington (left), Judy Smith (right) and Pastor Steve Smith arrange three different types of beans before customers arrive to make their orders on Saturday, April 24, 2021 at First United Methodist Church in Bangor. Credit: Linda Coan O’Kresik | BDN
When they held the first takeout supper in November, Allen and her fellow kitchen workers weren’t sure if anyone would come, but the takeout option brought in nearly twice as much money as the sit-down meals did. Because they nearly ran out of beans in March, the church cooked 8 more pounds of beans in the following month.
Even when the church can hold sit-down meals beginning next week, it will keep take-out meals as an option, according to Pastor Steven Smith.
On April 26, Mary Myshral and Kathy Bland, both of Hudson, arrived early and were first in line. Neither attends the church.
“We saw the handmade signs out by Tractor Supply on Broadway and decided to come into town,” Myshral said. “We like to support the community.”
She said getting takeout from the church led her to think about attending the church.
Like Myshral, nearly 33 percent of Maine residents don’t have a religious preference, higher than the national number of 25 percent, according to the
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