Our vision is a vibrant, welcoming and compassionate community, where all members have access to healthy food and authentic connection with their fellow neighbors.

The mission of Open Table MDI is to inspire strong, loving, and inclusive communities by bringing people together to share in nourishing food. Our organization helps to alleviate hunger by feeding individuals and families on Mount Desert Island and beyond.

We are a food security organization that believes all people should have access to the food they want and need. Yet we know that Maine ranks 3rd in the nation, and 1st in New England, for very low food security and that approximately 1 in 8 households in Hancock County lack access to enough food to sustain a healthy lifestyle (a rate higher than the national average). Solutions to hunger are complex. Poverty, unemployment, low wages, our current pandemic, and escalating housing costs all contribute to the challenges that the most vulnerable residents of our island communities face.

Open Table MDI’s work of cooking food and sharing it aims to bring people together who might not normally come together – to break down traditional barriers of separation. We believe that access to healthy food is a right, not a privilege. At our programs, hungry people are offered food, voices are heard, joy is cultivated, and isolation is decreased.

We achieve our mission by:

• Offering a free weekly vegetarian community meal that is both healthy and delicious. We focus on utilizing organic and local sources when possible. In addition to pick-up, we deliver food to island residents who are unable to travel to our location, due to health, transportation issues, or other economic factors.

• Coordinating a free island-wide mobile food distribution system – called the MDI Food Access Project. This project increases the diversity of healthy food options available, decreases the duplication of island services, reduces food access barriers, and addresses unmet food insecurity in MDI’s more remote communities. 

• Serving people with compassion and respect – regardless of age, race, gender, gender identity and expression, country of origin, faith background, marital status and family structure, mental and physical ability, immigration status, or sexual orientation

• Engaging a team of committed and passionate volunteers

• Striving to build a community of support for our guests who may face challenges beyond food insecurity by establishing relationships and partnering with other community agencies

• We believe no one should go hungry.

• We believe access to food is a basic human right.

• We believe nutritious food is a building block for healthy communities.

• We believe food can be a powerful tool to foster health, belonging, and justice in our community.

• We believe in the spirit of human kindness.

• We believe all people deserve compassion and respect.

• We believe that by working together we accomplish more.

• We believe that by sharing a meal, we build community and share hope.