Our Mission, Team and Impact
Loaves & Fishes Food Pantry feeds and serves the hungry of Hancock County, Maine. We treat everyone with respect, so they leave the pantry with dignity and hope as well as groceries. We're community-supported and volunteer-led and -driven, and we're committed to providing groceries and life-skills support to anyone who needs it.
Meet the Team: Officers and Staff
Clyde Cushing
Co-President • Ellsworth
Clyde is a Special Education Teacher working in the younger grades. He's a community member who has served as a volunteer firefighter for 25 years, as well as a member of the Ellsworth Rotary Club. A trustee since 2016, Clyde enjoys golf and the outdoors in his downtime.
Tracy Shaffer
Co-President • Ellsworth
Tracy moved to Ellsworth after retiring from Verizon post a 25+ year career. An ordained deacon in The Episcopal Church, Tracy remains an active Rotarian after serving as President of the Ellsworth club in 2018–19.
Max Dietshe
Vice President • Trenton
Max recently retired from a career in corporate communications and user experience design to work on marketing and development for the pantry. He and his wife, novelist W.S. Winslow, moved full-time to their Trenton "camp" in 2019.
Beth Cole
Treasurer • Prospect Harbor
Beth retired from her career as a non-profit executive in January 2022. Her late husband Jim’s family is from Corea, and she has been spending summer vacations in Prospect Harbor for 35 years. She now resides there five months of the year. In addition to her interest in eradicating hunger, she is an avid traveler and enjoys cooking and pickleball.
Dave Schnebeck
Pantry Manager • Trenton
Dave and his wife Linda moved from Colorado to Ellsworth in 2000 after retiring from a 40 plus year career in retail sporting goods. Dave joined the pantry in 2001 as a volunteer and now serves as our Pantry Manager. He enjoys boating, fishing and all Maine has to offer.
Jo Cooper
Engagement Manager • Lamoine
Originally from Mt. Desert Island, Jo is the retired Executive Director of Friends in Action, which she founded. A longtime volunteer with Hospice and Loaves & Fishes, she loves to work with volunteers to empower people to improve their lives. Jo’s hobbies include gardening and beekeeping.
Georgeann Snead
Secretary • Castine
After a 30-year career leading an employee-owned manufacturing company in Virginia, Georgeann relocated to Maine, where in the next phase of her life she’s devoting her energy to working and volunteering in the nonprofit world. She loves cooking, feeding people and being outside enjoying the beauty of Maine.
Meet the Team: Board of Trustees
George Marnik
Mariaville
George and his wife Margarita moved to Maine in 1978 and have two children living in the area. He retired in 2016 after a 45 year career in education, serving as a teacher and high school principal on Deer Isle and MDI, as a member of the graduate faculty in Educational Leadership at UMaine, and as a consultant in leadership development. In retirement, George has found much more time to enjoy being with his grandchildren, travel with his wife, fly fish, and hunt/photograph wildlife and the natural world (when not at the pantry).
Greg Nitzkowski
Castine
Greg and his wife Barbara became full-time residents of Maine at the beginning of 2025 after enjoying 26 summers in Castine. Greg recently retired from a 40-year legal and law-firm management career with Paul Hastings LLP. He is the founder of the Good Table Foundation, a charitable organization that grows and distributes fresh produce to food pantries in Hancock County.
Ann Sargent
Steuben
Annie has deep roots in Hancock County. She's worked in adult education programs in Downeast Maine since 1986. She is dedicated to working in partnership with individuals, organizations and businesses to assist people in reaching their potential by breaking down the barriers to achieving their goals at the individual, community and societal level.
Daniel Wilkey
Lamoine
Dan joined our team in 2022 as a volunteer and quickly became the volunteer coordinator as well as a member of the Board of Trustees. Dan spent his career in the IT/ telecommunications field in the Mid-Atlantic region. In 2017, he and his husband David found a summer home here in Lamoine. They are extremely active in many areas of the local community and enjoy traveling when not volunteering.
Photos courtesy of Down East Photography