Welcome To Housing Bi-Weekly Blog
Publishing Date, June 12, 2026
Christopher Olsen, Founder and Board of Trustees President
Greetings,
It’s already June 10th. If the formatting below looks unusual, well, that’s because it IS! I decided to try and write at least some of it with something I had NEVER heard about until very recently. It was written with an Artificial Intelligence Recorder. Mine is a Plaud Note Pro. In addition to recording straight dictation and making a plain transcript, it can do so much more.
Speaker 1: So funny. This is for my biweekly blog for Welcome to Housing, and it's going to be due in June, later in the month of June. I realized after getting the Plaud Note Pro that in addition to having the Phillips Voice Tracer, which works great if you dictate, Then plug it into your laptop with the USB to micro-USB. Then you open up Microsoft Word and hit dictate and play the file. It'll actually transcribe, but it usually works pretty well. The only issue is it takes so many steps, and by the time you go through all those steps, and you haul out a laptop and everything else, you could have easily just have dictated or not dictated but actually typed.
Speaker 1: Into Microsoft Word, and telling my friend about it, I realized, in addition to the Philips voice tracer somewhere, I've got a cute little microrecorder, and I have I believe two microcassette recorders, just like the ones that the Long Island Medium used for years and years. One of my favorite episodes of that show was when her microcassette recorder was not working properly, and somebody bought her a digital voice recorder. She was really hesitant to even use it because she's so used to the fact that you can see the tape spinning and recording and so forth. But this new toy of mine it was pricey, but I paid for it out of my own pocket and the fact that I can take it anywhere, and I can also stick it on the back of my cell phone is just an added bonus.
Speaker 1: And even with it on the back of my cell phone, it still fits in the Turtleback holster, which is wonderful. A lot of great things are going on this coming week. On Tuesday, the ninth of June, I am going to be driving down to Freeport, and I am going to be spending the night at the Hilton Garden Inn, which is a really nice hotel chain. A friend of mine is a part owner of Eremita and Valley here in the Bangor area, and they have a Hilton Garden Inn, and it has its own restaurant. It's just a really nice property. I used to work for the Samoset Resort in Rockland or Rockport actually, and I can't imagine working in a restaurant ever again. But working in hospitality was something that's always fascinated me, because when you do a podcast, you get to meet all kinds of people, you get to have interesting conversations. But I digress.
Speaker 1: I go down on the ninth and stay overnight at the very same hotel where the SCORE awards are being given on the tenth, which is a Wednesday. And what's really interesting and fun about it is, the SCORE chapter as I mentioned that has about fourteen different mentors came out on top. The Northern Maine Chapter was actually named “SCORE Chapter of the Year” for the entire United States. Think about those large populous areas such as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, you name it. You have to wonder how many different mentors they have going on. And here we are in northern Maine with fourteen of them plugging away, helping businesses and nonprofits. And they win chapter of the year? That's just mind boggling! Anyway, I am excited about having one to two minutes to share with the audience.
Speaker 1: Jan Doucette, Lisa Maxey and her husband Glenn are traveling down together to enjoy the festivities along with Dennis Wint and David Green. David Green is the Chapter Chair of the Northern Maine Chapter. Dennis Wint, of course, is our mentor. But I think giving a two-minute speech will be a piece of cake for me. I am going to point out the fact that the Welcome to Housing program, which Dennis is a mentor for, Was actually started indirectly because of mentoring. I was helping a friend's ex-husband in the correctional system, as most of you probably know. God rest his soul; he has since passed, But that was what inspired me to become a Big Brother with Big Brothers Big Sisters. And I was matched with four littles. First one was named Mando, the second one was named Darrell, but his nickname was Bubba.
Speaker 1: Third one was Peter, And if you've ever seen “Pete's Lawn Care” or his lawn care business in Bangor, that's the same Peter. And the fourth one is David, And David was the one I told you about who worked with the Army Corps of Engineers while he was still a civilian and came up with some great suggestions for a bullet resistant tent. The same bullet resistant tent they had a Soldier was wearing like a backpack over in Afghanistan. Soldier got hit by a bullet from a sniper, but because of the tent that he was wearing on his back prototype, he survived. And David was the one that I did the event for the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter.
Speaker 1: We sent out three hundred copies of a letter. We ended up raising $7,300 for the shelter. That was for my fortieth birthday in 2011. It all started that summer when I reached out to the (now retired) Executive Director with the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter, Dennis Marble. and he said that he wanted to talk to me. And Dennis was very reserved. I met with him and came to learn that people moving out of the shelter into permanent housing, started out with a twenty-five-dollar gift card and help with a security deposit, but nothing to sleep on, nothing to eat your meals at, no couch or easy chair. None of it. And it just baffled me how people who are starting over again could possibly succeed when their focus is having money for rent, having money for food.
Speaker 1: But nobody should have to live on a floor, you know. It's one thing, if you are into yoga, and that's your thing… to NOT to sleep in a bed, but sleep on a floor. But for people that are starting over, it just isn't right. I will do another entry sometime very soon.
June 12, 2026
Well, I’m back on the computer. I started as I shared above, with my Plaud Note Pro A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) recorder and it’s beyond amazing. I have signed up for the plan that lets you record 1,200 minutes a month and if I exceed that, the unlimited plan isn’t that much more expensive.
The visit down to Freeport was incredible but before I delve into that, I wanted to share that we applied to the same organization that gave us a $20,000 grant last year just informed us via a USPS letter that they approved our grant application for $10,000 which is FANTASTIC! We put in for the same amount as last year and honestly, I felt it was odd to do it but it was the idea of our Board and the Fundraising Team to go ahead and apply. Well despite feeling uncomfortable and frankly feeling a bit “greedy” I am glad as it gives us more financial breathing room.
We also received our much welcomed $1,000 annual donation from a former volunteer of mine (from many years ago when I was the director of the Bangor Historical Society and Museum). I ran into him probably 6 or 7 years ago when a group form Upward Bound was doing a 3-hour toilet paper drive at Shaw’s Supermarket in Bangor. First, I was shocked to receive a $250 check from him and I was even MORE surprised when a number of weeks or months later, ANOTHER check came in the mail, this one for $750.
Ever since then he has donated $1,000 every year and only asks for a receipt letter for his taxes. One year he sent, in addition to his usual donation, another check for $3,000 with a handwritten note telling me in the simplest terms, “I don’t want to pay taxes on this.”
Well, I need to head out for now. I can’t remember if I shared the SCORE announcement with you, but it was nice to hear, and I think it’s worth repeating:
Dear Chris,
I'm pleased to announce that Welcome to Housing has been selected as a 2026 SCORE Maine Success Award winner.
Award Category: Non-Profit
You and your business have been selected based on your vision, innovation, and business achievement.
We look forward to celebrating your success at the Award Luncheon:
Wednesday, June 10th
12:00 - 2:30
Hilton Garden Inn at 5 Park Street in Freeport.
Please be prepared to share 1-2 minutes of remarks after you've received your award.
You will need to be in attendance to receive this award. Therefore, please confirm your acceptance and attendance.
If you want additional family and friends to help you celebrate, please let me know their first and last names and email addresses by May 29th.
You and your guests will receive an E-invitation from PaperlessPost with an RSVP.
Congratulations, and I look forward to meeting you in-person on June 10th.
Regards,
Charlie Weidhas
Assistant District Director
SCORE Maine
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Have a GREAT couple of weeks everyone!
Gratefully,
Christopher K. Olsen
Founder and Board of Trustees President
welcometohousing@gmail.com
Call/Text (207) 745-1287
