MEIPL is Fiscal Sponsor to the Bangor Edible Parks CollaborativeThe Bangor Edible Park Collaborative (BEPC) is a group of individuals and organizations committed to creating edible gardens as a way to engage members of existing communities and as-yet unaffiliated individuals within the greater Bangor area to work together to become more interconnected, self-reliant, and generous to those less fortunate.  The BEPC creates food gardens throughout the City of Bangor that are tended by community members.  Everyone is invited to eat the food, enjoy the gardens, and participate in their maintenance.  Bangor Edible Parks Collaborative History:In the fall of 2014, Bangor Edible Parks Collaborative was launched by David Patrick.  His plan was for community members to participate in creating and tending gardens located in church yards and on city owned property.  He imagined that all would feel welcome to enter the gardens and eat the fresh food and that low income and homeless people in the City of Bangor (ex: Manna Ministries, Bangor Area Homeless Shelter, HOPE House teen shelter, Dorothy Day Soup Kitchen) could be the primary recipients of the bulk harvest.  In the spring of 2015, BEPC tilled up grassy lawns at Manna (a faith-based housing and food assistance program) and at two Bangor Churches. The total area of gardens in 2015 was 7,600 sq. ft.  Each of the three gardens was tended by more than 20 volunteers giving a combined total of roughly 60 volunteer-hours per week. The volunteer gardeners included University of Maine undergraduate students, graduate students and alumni; members of the two churches and individuals from a number of community organizations.  These BEPC gardens produced more than 11,000lbs of food.