UNITY — For Hussam Alrawi and his family, it’s difficult to find halal meats in stores, schools, hospitals or even at markets designed to serve immigrant communities.

So, Alrawi and his wife Kathryn Piper decided to do something about it.

This year, the couple’s business, Five Pillars Butchery, received about $4 million in federal funds to help them build a new slaughterhouse and start a program to provide halal meats to schools.

Halal refers to Muslim teachings about the process of slaughtering animals in a way considered more humane than traditional methods. 

Five Pillars plans to break ground in April and already has a builder lined up and ready to go. If all goes well, they’ll open next fall.

“We don’t have access like everybody else for red meat or even poultry,” Alrawi said.

Beyond his own family, Alrawi and Piper plan to use a $1.5 million grant to pay for establishing a halal meal program for K-12 students.

Five Pillars was one of seven organizations in Maine to get a portion of $7.4 million in School Food System Innovation Grants through a program administered by Full Plates Full Potential, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

The butchery, partnering with other organizations, plans to provide local vegetables and halal meats to schools, starting with Auburn and Waterville.

“This innovative project will address barriers to participation in Maine’s School Meals for All policy for Muslim students statewide, while simultaneously addressing the needs faced by under-resourced, understaffed, and underequipped school kitchens,” according to a description of the program provided by U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree’s office.

As it is now, Muslim children in public schools face limited choices of what they can eat, Alrawi said.

“Our kids in the school system they don’t have access to nutrition like others, so their options is fish and cheese,” he said. 

The butchery will provide slaughterhouse services to other local farms. When they are fully up and running, Alrawi expects to employ about 14 people.

“We see small farms struggling,” he said. “So helping small farms to stay in business, it’s something we always advocate. We want small farms to stay in business, we want to encourage them to increase their production.”