MEXICO — By the time the first people arrived for lunch on a warm July day, Michelle Williams and the volunteers at the River Valley’s only soup kitchen had been at work for hours.

They stretched out clean white tablecloths and arranged baskets of fruit and snacks on the buffet line. They filled large orange coolers with lemonade and water and set out napkins and utensils. They stirred baked beans bubbling in a warmer, the scent wafting out of the kitchen.

Williams, a retired hospice nurse who founded Good Samaritan Missionary Services, had started cooking the day before. The menu included barbecue pulled chicken sandwiches, street corn pasta salad and her famous lemon icebox cake.

Her motivation, she said, is simple: “Food is a necessity, not a luxury.”

Michelle Williams, center, makes a street corn pasta salad, while Carol Violette, right, and Jo Chapman, left, pull apart chicken and Judy Sanborn washes dishes at Good Samaritan Missionary Services in Mexico on July 6. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)

In Oxford County’s River Valley — where the towns that hug the Androscoggin River have long been known for their deep ties to paper manufacturing — many working families have a hard time covering their everyday expenses. The hunger rate is among the highest in the state.

The financial situation can be even more bleak for people who are retired, unemployed or homeless.

Some families have been in poverty, or hovering just above it, for generations.

Before the soup kitchen opened, there were few options in the area for food assistance. Three years ago, Williams started an emergency food pantry at town hall. Within six months, it morphed into the soup kitchen because of the high demand, she said.

A view of ND Paper Rumford Division seen from Waldo Street in Rumford on Sept. 9. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)

It’s not uncommon to hear about people working 12-hour days but still struggling to make ends meet, said Joleen Bedard, president and CEO of United Way of Western Maine. Some have seasonal jobs with inconsistent incomes, while others grapple with how to get to work and appointments in a region without widely accessible public transportation.

“It’s certainly a struggle and I don’t see it changing any time soon,” she said. “There are two Maines: the haves and the have-nots.”

‘BARRIER AFTER BARRIER’

Every day, thousands of Mainers face the hardest choices: buy food or pay for a prescription; drive far for healthcare or risk going without; toil to afford childcare or stop working; go to a homeless shelter or sleep in a tent.

Across the state, data from 2024 shows, 40% of households fell below the federal poverty line or just above the threshold, where people struggle to afford basic expenses, but don’t always qualify for assistance.

“There is an enormous number of hardworking families throughout the state who are one unexpected expense away from crisis,” said Dan Coyne, who heads the United Way of Southern Maine.

People line up outside of the Old School Food Pantry before it opens in Mexico on Sept. 23. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)

This summer, the United Ways of Maine released new data they say shows traditional measures of poverty have undercounted the number of households in the state experiencing financial hardship.

Many have incomes above the federal poverty line and are part of a population called ALICE — Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. The threshold for each county is calculated using household income and a survival budget that includes the cost of housing, childcare, food, transportation, healthcare and technology.

It does not include room for savings, debt payments or emergency expenses.

In Rumford, 66% of households struggle to afford basic expenses — the most of any town in the county, according to the United Way. Census data shows 15% are below the poverty line.

Half of the households in Mexico and 39% in neighboring Dixfield also fall below the ALICE threshold.

For decades, people in Maine’s rural areas have experienced financial hardship and poverty at higher rates. But even in coastal areas, where more wealth is concentrated, there are pockets of residents struggling.

For many in the Oxford County region, improving their financial outlook seems nearly impossible, even if they’re working, said Melissa McEntee, who runs Rumford Group Homes, the only homeless shelter program in the county.

“We see hard-working families who do everything they can to get out of that poverty cycle. Everything in River Valley keeps sucking them back in,” she said. “Everything is a barrier. It’s barrier after barrier after barrier.”

Jennifer Thibodeau looks through gently used children’s clothing at Praise Assembly of God’s Culture of Compassion event in Rumford on Aug. 22. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)FALLING THROUGH THE CRACKS

Sue Grace remembers the heyday of Rumford, when the town was booming and there wasn’t an empty storefront downtown. There was a big hotel that hosted fancy weddings, a hat shop she’d visit with her grandmother, and a police officer with a whistle and white gloves directing traffic.

“Talk about a Norman Rockwell portrait,” the lifelong Rumford resident said.

Grace, 72, worked at the local hospital for years and raised her four kids in town. In the ’80s, as manufacturing at the paper mill declined and the workforce shrank, businesses on Congress Street started to close. Unemployment ticked up and there was less going on to keep kids entertained, she said.

Sue Grace at her apartment in Rumford on Sept. 21. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)

The paper mill in Rumford employed more than 3,000 people at its peak, but today it employs just over 500. The steep decline in manufacturing created economic uncertainty in the communities, according to Friends of the River Valley, which supports a range of nutrition, education, health and social services programs in the area.

Grace said she never considered leaving, even after she retired from her job as a phlebotomist and two of her adult children moved out of town. She was doing fine on her Social Security and small pension for a while, but things have become tougher in the past few years as the cost of everything seemed to go up.

Sue Grace looks at her grocery list while shopping in Rumford on Sept. 21. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)

Now, she feels like she’s falling through the cracks.

Grace gets about $24 a month in federal food assistance benefits and the $417 monthly rent for her apartment is based on her income. In August, she was eagerly awaiting her $300 affordability check from the state so she could replace her six-year-old cell phone.

She’s grateful for the help and said she’s fortunate to be better off than many, but she still has to make tough choices.

Most days, Grace eats two meals to save on groceries.

She goes to the soup kitchen in Mexico for lunch because that is food she doesn’t have to figure out how to pay for.

From left, Michelle Williams, Judy Sanborn, Sue Grace, Louie Marin and Peter Theriault chat at Good Samaritan Missionary Services in Mexico on Sept. 21. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)

“I was raised that you don’t ask for help. I had to learn to do that,” she said, while sitting in her dining room under a wall sign encouraging visitors to “Live well, laugh often, love much.”

After working hard for 40 years, Grace doesn’t think she should have to struggle so much.

FILLING THE GAP

A half-dozen people carrying reusable shopping bags lingered in the dirt parking lot outside of the Old School Food Pantry in Mexico on a gloomy day in June. They chatted quietly as raindrops started to fall, adding to the unseasonable chill.

They were an hour early for the weekly distribution, but wanted to make sure they could get what they needed.

The two-room food pantry in the bottom floor of an old school building sits on a hill facing the river. The white plumes from the mill stacks drift over the trees.

Just inside the door, volunteer William Gallant sat at a table, lists of pantry regulars laid out in front of him and clipboards with checklists of grocery items neatly stacked to the side. Every time someone came in, he clicked a counter dangling from his neck to keep track of how many people showed up for groceries.

William Gallant works the check-in table at the Old School Food Pantry in Mexico on May 13. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)

Oxford County has one of the highest food insecurity rates in the state, with nearly a quarter of all children in the region experiencing hunger, according to Feeding America, which tracks the issue across the country.

The number of Mainers experiencing hunger continues to rise. It’s the highest it’s been in a decade, according to a report released this summer.

More than 11,000 Mainers have lost access to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program because of sweeping changes that began rolling out last fall, according to state officials.

Rural areas of Maine, where more people tend to rely on SNAP, are being hit especially hard by the changes, according to hunger prevention advocates. Work exemptions were removed for rural areas with low employment options, leaving some people struggling to find work or volunteer opportunities to maintain access to food assistance.

Food pantries trying to fill the gap are reporting record numbers of visits. In August, nearly 300 families came in to pick up fresh produce, meat and boxes of shelf-stable groceries from the Old School Food Pantry.

Gallant, 77, grew up in Rumford when the paper mill was the biggest employer and the company’s owner pumped money into the town, including the community center where kids gathered for dances and bowling in the basement.

Gallant, who has been volunteering at the food pantry for four years, sees the impact every week from behind his check-in table.

There are always new people coming in for the first time — older retirees whose pensions don’t cover the bills anymore, working parents who can’t afford groceries, people who are out of work and piecing together whatever they can to get by.

As the pantry gets busier, he worries there won’t be enough food to go around.

“I don’t ever want to be the person who has to tell them we ran out of food,” he said, as he handed a clipboard to the next person in line.

FEEDING THE COMMUNITY

The school district that serves Rumford and Mexico decided in late June that it did not have the staff to distribute free lunch to kids during the summer, a move that Williams, from the soup kitchen, said was particularly hard on families already struggling to provide food.

In the first days after school let out, she said there was a noticeable increase in families with kids coming in for lunch.

Emmet Holtorf, 13, left, and his younger siblings, Connor, 5, and Ember, 2, leave Good Samaritan Missionary Services in Mexico on Aug. 27. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)

“Holy smokes, we are getting our butts handed to us,” Williams said in early July. One day the previous week, she served 45 people in less than an hour. Half of them were children.

As the outside temperature pushed into the high 80s, Angela Dean, her husband and their 1-year-old daughter were among the first to arrive for lunch on July 6.

“We just want to live here, Michelle,” Dean called out as she walked into the air-conditioned room and headed for a table in the back corner.

Dean, who was staying at the homeless shelter, comes in for lunch most days the soup kitchen is open. She knows everyone by name.

“It’s a huge relief,” she said, after settling her daughter into a highchair and filling their plates. “It might seem like one meal three days a week isn’t a big deal, but when you’re a mom trying to survive, it’s so important.”

Dean has lived in the River Valley for more than 20 years. She doesn’t think there are enough resources available to help residents. She said she’s watched rents shoot up higher than she thought possible.

“A lot of people struggle here,” Dean said. “There are a lot of people who don’t have anywhere to go. People are overworked and underpaid.”

Judy Sanborn greets Alisha Holtorf and her youngest child, Ember, 2, as they get food at Good Samaritan Missionary Services in Mexico on Aug. 27. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)

Alisha Holtorf, of Mexico, came into the soup kitchen a few minutes later with four of her five children. They’re regulars, too, and have grown especially close to Williams and the volunteers who serve lunch. Williams keeps applesauce pouches on hand for the youngest Holtorf, 2-year-old Ember.

Holtorf, 34, runs the food pantry at her church, Praise Assembly of God in downtown Rumford, and sees firsthand how many people in the community are living on the edge financially.

“People are doing all they can, but it still doesn’t seem like enough for this area,” she said.

Ellianah Holtorf, 10, plays with her little sister Ember, 2, after their lunch at Good Samaritan Missionary Services in Mexico on Aug. 27. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)

Holtorf homeschools her kids and works two part-time jobs. Her husband has a manufacturing job in Auburn, but she said they still don’t make enough and don’t qualify for any assistance programs. To stretch her budget, Holtorf grows vegetables, swaps the clothes her kids have outgrown for new sizes at the church’s clothing closet, and is careful about spending at the grocery store.

The Holtorfs saved for several years to pay for a road trip to see family in Iowa in September.

She said people often come to the church for help, but the congregation is small and many of its members are on fixed incomes and can’t afford to give more.

“It’s hard,” she said, “telling people we don’t have the funds.”

Judy Sanborn, a volunteer, leans down to say hello to Connor Holtorf while he eats lunch with his siblings in the soup kitchen at Good Samaritan Missionary Services in Mexico on Aug. 7. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)‘ROBBING PETER TO PAY PAUL’

While it’s clear many people — including older residents who rely on Social Security and young families burdened by childcare expenses — are struggling to get by, Rumford Town Manager George O’Keefe sees progress in addressing some of the critical needs laid bare in the years following the decline in manufacturing.

The service sector has grown substantially and there has been “really drastic” growth in energy production and storage businesses, O’Keefe said.

Rumford, the largest town in the county, has a hospital and the Black Mountain of Maine ski resort. Larger ski resorts nearby attract thousands of people every winter.

For the last few years, the town has been focused on encouraging the construction of more housing — from neighborhoods of single-family homes to affordable apartments for older residents. O’Keefe believes this will go a long way toward addressing some of the financial pressure on River Valley residents.

“There are a lot of families that struggle to stay on the rung of the economic ladder they’re on, let alone make upward progress,” O’Keefe said.

Courtney Johnson finds herself facing the same choice every winter: keep the lights on or heat the house. The Mexico resident always chooses heat because the power company can’t easily disconnect service during the coldest months of winter under state law.

“The saying ‘Robbing Peter to pay Paul’ never meant anything to me as a kid,” she said. “Now, I do it all the time.”

Johnson is blunt when she describes her family’s financial situation: “It sucks to be poor.”

Johnson, 39, and her husband, Jason, met while growing up in York County, but didn’t start dating until after they were out of school and she had two children. They had five more children together, including a baby girl born this summer. They moved to the River Valley about eight years ago to live with his mother’s boyfriend. For nearly four years, the family stayed crammed together in two bedrooms.

Courtney Johnson hugs her 6-year-old son, Scottie, at Praise Assembly of God in Rumford on Aug. 27. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)

Johnson said she asked her husband to pick up a scratch-off lottery ticket when he was at the store a few years ago. The $5 ticket he bought was a winner, a stroke of luck that she said sent him running down the street in celebration.

They decided to use the money to create more stability for the family and Johnson said they were able to buy a house in Mexico for $55,000 in 2023. Some of the kids still have to share bedrooms, she said, but they’re not crowded into small rooms. The property came with apple trees and a picnic table, just like the house she had always dreamed of owning.

But owning a home hasn’t alleviated their financial constraints.

Courtney Johnson and her daughter Adelaide pray before the start of Praise Assembly of God’s Culture of Compassion event in Rumford on Aug. 22. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)

Johnson recently left her job as a direct support professional at a local nonprofit to care for her new baby. Childcare, if she could find it, would cost more than she made. Her husband is a subcontractor, but work can be inconsistent. Sometimes, she said, he works on homes of older members of their church who can only afford to pay him with thanks, prayer and homemade cookies.

The Johnsons, who work part-time leading the youth ministry at Praise Assembly of God, found their way to the church a few years ago after attending its annual Culture of Compassion event, where people can get a free lunch, groceries and clothing.

Johnson is grateful her family is insured through MaineCare and receives benefits from the Women, Infants and Children program. Most months, the $1,300 they get from SNAP is enough to cover groceries, but sometimes they have to use a local food pantry.

“We’re very frugal because we know what it’s like to go without,” she said. “We try not to take from this church (food pantry) because we know people around here need it more.”

The Johnsons try to help where they can. When they heard a young person in their church was using dish soap to brush his teeth, they bought him toothpaste. Recently, they scraped together $200 to buy meat for a family short on food.

“We will go without to help another family,” she said.

FINDING A WAY TO HELP

In the River Valley, many support systems are informal. If one group can’t help someone, they often know where to point them for assistance, said McEntee, the homeless shelter director.

“People who care and want to help have found a way to band together,” McEntee said. “We feel lucky that in Oxford County we are small and all the providers know each other.”

At Good Samaritan, helping goes beyond the food laid out on the buffet table.

On Thursdays, a retired social worker sits in the back of the soup kitchen, helping people sign up for assistance programs. The back room is stocked with basic toiletries, household items and pet food. When someone faces an unexpected hardship, Williams is known to jump in.

“Michelle will always find a way to help,” said Carol Violette, a retired seamstress who has volunteered at the soup kitchen since it opened.

Michelle Williams hugs Ellianah Holtorf, 10, at Good Samaritan Missionary Services in Mexico on July 6. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)

Williams and the Good Samaritan board do it all on a shoestring budget.

They apply for grants and put a small donation jar out during every lunch. When a grant payment was delayed, Williams used some of her own Social Security check to cover expenses until it came in. A supporter gives $400 every month from her Social Security income.

As summer waned, Williams spent hours canning sauerkraut, pickled beets, tomato sauce and vegetables to get the soup kitchen through the long winter.

Ember Holtorf reaches up to grab a piece of fruit during lunch at Good Samaritan Missionary Services in Mexico on Aug. 7. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)

“It’s a tiring week,” she said, “but it’s nice to go into the weekend knowing you’ve helped people.”

When the new school year started, Williams decided to cut back to two lunches each week. When winter sets in, she plans to open the soup kitchen on the coldest days as a refuge for people living outside and those whose homes aren’t warm enough.

There won’t always be lunch, but the coffee will be hot.

Michelle Williams pulls a cake out of the oven at Good Samaritan Missionary Services in Mexico on Sept. 23. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)