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Hussam Al Rawi and his wife, Kathryn Piper, opened Five Pillars Butchery, a halal meat processing business in 2017, after moving to Maine the previous year. The couple were awarded nearly $3 million in federal grants earlier this year to add a slaughterhouse to the butchery at 119 Bangor Road.

Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) Renewable and Energy Efficiency Program July 26, 2024

Awarded to seven organizations through Full Plates Full Potential, the federal funding will help schools overcome the barriers to purchasing Maine-based foods for their school meal programs and establish long-term solutions and best practices that can be replicated in other regions

Six Maine companies will receive a total of $6.5 million in grants to upgrade their electrical infrastructure and allow them to expand their facilities and workforces.

Governor Mills has announced $6.5 million in grants through her Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan to support upgrades to the electrical grid for Maine businesses. Six Maine companies will receive the grants.

Maine’s 17,000 who observe the dietary practices in the Quran primarily rely on imported halal-certified beef, lamb, and goat meat because the closest USDA-certified slaughter and processing facility is four states away.

A Cooperative Development Institute (CDI) rural business development grant is being awarded to a new cooperative by the U.S. Department of Agriculture
Local Maine livestock producers and Five Pillars Butchery, an immigrant-owned business based in Unity, will comprise the new cooperative.

In its first round of grantmaking, GROWING JUSTICE disbursed over $3.5M to 20+ organizations aiming to create more enabling environments for farmers, distributors, aggregators, food chain workers, organizers, institutional partners and other builders of just supply chains to deliver good food to institutions. Together, these grantees showcase the diverse range of needs and efforts underway in the U.S. to seed, support and strengthen innovations, advocacy, partnerships, and practices that promise to shift institutional procurement systems and build power for people of color in local and regional food value chains.

In 2022, the Mills Administration invested approximately $20 million in federal funds to help Maine farmers and food processors improve critical infrastructure.