The Bi-Weekly Blog of Welcome To Housing Home Goods Bank

The Bi-Weekly Blog of Welcome To Housing Home Goods Bank

One of the great memories many of us have as kids, was ambushing our parents after they came home from work to tell them what we were PROUD of that happened in our lives that day, whether it was in the classroom, the ballfield, on the way home…

Well, there’s an excitement that I have starting this “web log” that feels similar.

First a HUGE Thank You to the many people out there who took the time to go to the Bangor Savings Banks website for ‘Community Matters More.’  Years ago, people, like my beloved Big Brothers Big Sisters caseworker, (the late) Phyllis Borns, would include WTH as a write-in vote. Phyllis was a board member and a real champion of the work we did. In fact, it was my 4th ‘Little Brother’ David who worked with me in 2001 to help raise $7,300 for the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter, which prompted and inspired me to start WTH ten years later.

But, I digress. Thank You to everyone for voting for us this year, the FIRST year we were actually ON the ballot and not just a hopeful write-in.

In addition to the $4,000 grant, the same day they presented the “Giant” check for a photo opportunity, a group of volunteers from Bangor Savings Bank came out through a United Way program to spend several hours to do landscaping and item sorting at 333 Main.  

The icing on the cake comes in the form of a public service announcement produced by NewsCenter Maine, as part of receiving the CMM grant. Nate Dumas came out with his video camera, a hearty handshake and a very compassionate heart and spent a considerable amount of time interviewing us and taking what’s called “B-Roll Footage” which is raw footage and pulled together an incredible piece that will run through the month of June.

We’ve already shared it on our website, and ALL of our social media platforms: Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Tik Tok (YES, we’re on Tik Tok now), Twitter/X and YouTube.

Keeping all those social media sites in mind, I want to offer a challenge. If you are interested in supporting Welcome To Housing and having FUN doing it, here’s the deal. If your business, school group, civic group, agency (like those whose clients we help) organization, or “critter club” (Lions, Elks, Eagles, Royal Order of Water Buffalo…Did you know that there is a Water Buffalo Farm in Appleton?) we would LOVE to hear from you!

If you are a ‘Spark Plug’ and can use your enthusiasm to inspire others to action, this challenge is a win/win.

For example, in the past, Care & Comfort did an extended ‘dress-down/blue jeans’ event and raised over $400 as well as a LOT of awareness for us.

Red Door Title hosted an Easter themed event with similar results, having a couple of large Easter Egg Hunts, a cook-out and kids photos taken with the Easter Bunny.

In addition to the funds and awareness raised, these events were promoted heavily on social media and in reality, were also fun, team-building events for the organizations involved. People love holiday parties for their work but sometimes the formality doesn’t give participants a chance to ‘let down their hair’ and just have fun.

When people who are family, friends, co-workers or any combination thereof, doing something with a positive community impact can be very spiritually uplifting and can give the participants great memories of working together that is like a warm hug to their morale.

If you’d like to learn more, please contact me directly: (207) 745-1287, email: welcometohousing@gmail.com or if you’d like, I can meet with your or your organization virtually. Meeting in person is also an option but with mobility issues, Zoom, Google Meet, etcetera is often easier.

Shifting gears, or to quote British comedic actor, John Cleese, “Now for something COMPLETELY different.”

Welcome To Housing has been blessed by outstanding community support.

One of those is a connection with college students. We’ve worked with students from Husson University’s New England School of Broadcasting (NESCOM), and the University of Maine.

We’ve had interns who’ve taken specific projects and full classes working on programs, including a recent technical writing class headed by Professor Kathryn ‘Katie’ Swacha that pulled together information through research and did the narrative for a pair of large grant applications.

Recently I checked with the UPS Store where we have a mailbox and was told we received a letter from a foundation that we applied to. I assumed it was a “No thanks.” We all know what happens when one “assumes.” As it turns out, the Narragansett Number One Foundation, that was founded by a couple who won a Powerball jackpot years ago, the same foundation I told DOZENS of organizations about, is giving WTH a $20,000 general operating support grant!

In addition to benefitting our program, for the students who worked on it, it was an invaluable experience.

We are always looking for grant support, but our hope is to eventually raise the funds we need to operate through private, and hopefully annual donations.

Recently invited to be interviewed live on WKIT-FM, the Rock of Bangor, I enjoyed sharing with Don Cookson and Paul Allen, a.k.a. The Rock & Roll Morning Show. The icing on the cake was getting back to my car and seeing an email message from Zeffy, a fundraising application that someone whom I didn’t know, donated $1,000.

It’s that support of donors, both furniture and money, that means a lot, but it’s the volunteers that bring it all home.

Recently, one of them, who is the process of pursuing her master’s degree and is working with her class on grant writing posed a question from her classmates.

Her fellow students asked the question, “How is it that Welcome To Housing has been around for so many years, helps so many people through more than 70 agencies yet has no paid staff.”

Flattering question, but she, along with many others were the answer I gave: “Volunteers.”

To update people on how to set up appointments I still screen calls at (207) 745-1287.  The volunteer that schedules appointments is Debbie. SammiJo heads up our warehouse and we have a great Board of Directors, I serve as President, and Lisa is Vice President.

If you would like to learn about becoming a volunteer and the different roles, we can email you a piece we like to call the Volunteer Menu. welcometohousing@gmail.com