Welcome To Housing Bi-Weekly Blog, August 8, 2025

The date above merely identifies the date I aim to finish and publish the particular edition. This one I’m finally able to start on August 3, 2025, just two days after what would have been my late Mother’s 101st birthday.

I have been thinking about something that makes the World Go Round and if built right and cared for can make a profound change in your life, and in the lives of people you interact with day in and day out.

In one word, “Relationships” and with relationships, the BIG factor that is so important to make that relationship WORK is simply this, “Communication.”

One good example of comedy that comes from miscommunication is an old classic, “Leave It To Beaver.” Almost EVERY plot involves Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver getting into a jam because he misunderstood the question or the request.

My parents were married for well over 50 years and it wasn’t their first marriage. If anyone had met them, they would have been very surprised as they were very opposite, but because they were, they made a great team. My mother was born in the Philippines because her Father was a Rear Admiral in the Navy. My Father’s parents were immigrants. His Father was from Selje, Norway, and his name was Christopher Olsen, and his Mother was from Finland and was named Aino Lehtonen. I even looked up my grandmother on the Ellis Island website…I was thinking “How many Aino Lehtonens can there be on the Ellis Island list of immigrants?”

I still smile when I remember finding three! It wasn’t until after my Father passed that I learned how Christopher and Aino met. My Mom explained that Grandpop (Christopher) went to a Finnish dance and met the love of his life, a young Aino who came from a long line of Finnish Laplanders who according to my Pop were nomadic and essentially followed the reindeer. They met, fell in love, had two daughters that sadly died young, then they had a Son, Alfred and a Daughter, Daisy and last but not least, my Pop, William Randolph Olsen. Pop to me and to his older Sister, he was “Willy” and when Pop was born, Daisy was at the age that to her, Pop was like a doll who she loved to carry around. I really miss my folks, and Grandpop. Aino my grandmother passed away before I was born.

Getting back to my folks, they were so different, and Mom’s ancestry was Mayflower passenger and merchant, Richard Warren. Mom went to school in Hawaii, Massachusetts, and college at Penn State. She traveled with her parents almost every year of her life until she was 23. So much of what she learned in addition to school was from travelling all over the United States.

Bill was a street-smart kid born in Brooklyn, New York and in addition to playing in the street and being scrappy and standing up to and defeating a larger bully in school named Turk, (at least one occasion as an adult he ran into an old classmate who remembered his courage. He dropped out of high school and signed up for the New York State National Guard at 15 (lying about his age) and then joined the Army Air Corps, came back home to check on his Mother who was supposedly having health issues and then enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. As a kid, he would take photos of storefronts, develop the photos and then offer to sell them to the storeowners to use for their newspaper ads. In the Marines he trained to take reconnaissance photos by hanging out of a plane while serving during the Korean War. I have three large photo albums of photos he took of Mount Fuji and of people and villages he took on the ground.

A lot of build-up, I know, but my point is, they were from very different backgrounds, and it worked REALLY well.

It is funny how many people grow up and emulate their parents and their parents’ lifestyle choices. On August 24th, my beloved Robin (whom I met in 1980 at Medomak Valley High School) and very much like my parents, she and I are very different to the point that some people, including family, did not think it would last.

It is the fact that we ARE so different that makes it work. Robin is extremely intelligent. She graduated from the University of Southern Maine Magna Cum Laude, majoring in Art and minoring in History. She is an artist, a quilter, and an incredibly creative cook (name your favorite meal and she tweaks things to make them even tastier) and is a talented gardener and is a great parent to the cats and rabbits we have had and have. She learns by reading and retains most everything she reads. Her Aunt Mae (her Mother’s sister) was a schoolteacher and bought her a set of World Book Encyclopedias, which, well were very well read by my beloved.

Even though we have so many differences, we work well together like my folks did and to me, it’s like “playing house” for me.

An example of how we do things differently, take for example, putting something together like a piece of kit furniture. She’s the one that will take the time to pull out the directions and carefully put it together.

Me? I’ve come to realize her approach is the better one, but it used to be, I was the one that dumped out the pieces and set aside the screws, etcetera and went to work “sans instructions” and hoped that whatever it was, came together and there were no… wait for it… NO parts/pieces left over.

Years ago, when I worked for Adoptive & Foster Families of Maine, the hubby of one of my co-workers and I worked to put together a nice desk. It must have been machined on a late Friday afternoon. How do I know that?

Well, mostly because when we tried to assemble it, pre-drilled holes and other details were done on the wrong edges and sides, and we had to make our own pilot/screw holes in the proper locations to make the desk look normal. If we hadn’t it would have been like the Cadillac in that Johnny Cash Song, “One Piece At A Time” where he takes several years to smuggle parts of a car out of the Auto Plant where he works (most of it in his lunchbox), only to discover it took so long to do, NONE of the parts really seem to fit together.

We have been fortunate to do as well as we have with Welcome To Housing because of the hard work, relationships and good communication with volunteers like with current Warehouse Manager, SammiJo Thibeault.

Two of the main reasons I enjoy collaborating with her, is number one… her enthusiasm and her work ethic is something to behold.

She also understands our mission in its simplest terms, to HELP people.

In return I work to ensure that Sammi and the warehouse and transport volunteers have what they need to ensure a safe workplace. A while back for instance we added some features to the accessible restroom to make it easier for people to use. Today, Sammi came to my house to pick up two large rolling carts, one for the first floor and one for upstairs.

Speaking of communication, I was dictating that very sentence to SammiJo, Lisa and Jan, that “one for upstairs and one for downstairs” and the ‘one four’ when I dictated into my new smartphone came up with… “14.” Yes, it thought ‘one’ and ‘four’ should be 14.

Ready to go all “Yosemite Sam” with my new phone, a Samsung, after years of Motorola/Moto, Robin came to my rescue. Yes, she works in wireless and has for nearly 30 years but once again her patience won out over my frustration. It was a matter of changing the voice-to-text from whatever Samsung came up with, to Google’s version which KNOWS and LISTENS to what I say. Frustration turned into satisfaction.

My smartphone is a vital tool for me, ESPECIALLY when it comes to Welcome To Housing as I answer and screen incoming calls to our Google Voice number (207) 200-5524 and my personal cell number (207) 745-1287, text messages, Facebook messenger messages, emails welcometohousing@gmail.com, message through LinkedIn, TikTok and other social media platforms.

Dennis Marble, the now retired Director of the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter, thought I was nuts to share my personal cell phone number. Trust me there are moments when I think he may have been on to something but, I’m fine with it.

My philosophy is that NO ONE in need should call in when they’re seeking answers and/or assistance, only to hear a recording telling them that “Please leave a message at the beep, and SOMEONE will get back to you on the next BUSINESS day.”

LMAO! I just now took a call from a young lady who is ready to move into her FIRST apartment and here it is, 1:30 in the afternoon on a Sunday. I always ask if they need clothing and “Yes” was the answer this time, so I also shared the number for The Storehouse program at the Brick Church in Bangor. (207) 307-7848, in case you need clothing or have some to donate!

To steal a quote from Damon, one of the Wayans brothers, when it comes to making people wait until the next business day, as his character Homey D. Clown would say, “Homey Don’t Play That!”

I am back from a few hours of a break. While doing the dishes (You can soar with the eagles and you can swim with the fishes, but as far as I know, NO MAN has EVER been shot, while doing the dishes) I received yet another call on a Sunday.

Like many calls I receive, people start with, “a friend told me” or “a friend said I should call this number.”

The thing I enjoy most about getting calls from people in need, it when I get to say that magic word, “YES!”

For example, “Do you have any furniture?”

“YES!”

“It’s REALLY free?”

“YES!”

The lady who called today as I continued washing dishes, was amazed as she learned more about our program and like many other callers was quick to say “Yes” to my question, asking if she was in need of clothing.

People often times can’t believe that in this day and age, there are programs where they can get FREE help.

I’ve quoted it before, and I will quote it again; Life is a JOURNEY and NOT a Destination… With that in mind, if you see someone with their vehicle broken down on the side of the road, you might offer assistance, you might offer to call for help, but it’s not likely you would slow down and/or stop and yell at them, insult them or berate them,,, So why is it that often times we hear of people judging others without them knowing their story.

Tough challenges can happen to ANYONE… Some might say “It couldn’t happen to me!” Why? They may think they have too many connections, or too much money to worry about going down a rougher road. In all honesty though, addiction and/or mental illness doesn’t care how connected you are or how much money you have. Again, to share that message from the National “Treatment Works!” campaign from years ago, “Trying drugs or alcohol is a CHOICE…Addiction is NOT.”

I am back!

Well, here it is… Friday evening, after 8:00pm and I’m finally having a chance to sit down with my laptop again…

Okay, so I DID procrastinate a bit but my phone, texts, e-mails were keeping me busy the last few days. Thursday, yesterday…August 7th, I attended the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce (BRCC) and Ellsworth Area Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. It’s been a long-standing tradition that the two chambers of commerce have an event together and for years, it was held at the Lucerne Inn. If you’ve never heard of The Lucerne Inn, seen it, or visited it, take a moment to check it out online or in person. It’s a BEAUTIFUL Inn overlooking a large, beautiful lake. A REALLY beautiful view is on the mountain above the Inn, looking down from a HUGE granite ledge that’s more like a gargantuan patio of stone called Sunset Rock. I digress…I WILL describe it in a future blog as it is a place everyone should visit, just not all at once.

Jan Doucette was there and with me, sat at the registration table with the name tag labels and “passports” along with one of the area’s true living treasures, Marcia Baker. Marcia is the BRCC’s Administrative Professional (yes, it is capitalized… as it is on their website) and easily one of the kindest souls I know. It makes sense as I have always felt like the staff and volunteers (as well as members of the BRCC) were like a second family to me. I’ve been fortunate when it comes to family in addition to my immediate family. My beloved’s family a.k.a. my “in-laws” always made me feel loved and cared for.

When I was out of work years ago for 5 months (short story, long footnote), I volunteered for the now defunct Bangor Convention & Visitors Bureau, also known as the Bangor C.V.B. or to others, like me, the initials stood for “Come Visit Bangor.” They were in the same building as the BRCC which was on the corner of Main Street and Dutton Street, just down the way and to the left of the Paul Bunyan statue. Wait…You’re NOT familiar with Bangor’s Paul Bunyan statue? Geez, yet ANOTHER site you need to see before you shuffle off this mortal coil.

The BRCC and the events and trainings, etc. are vital to businesses, including nonprofits like ours and are not only informative and great for networking and learning… they’re also FUN. One of the other reasons of the 9,253 reasons I enjoy being involved with the BRCC (since 1986 when I covered their events as a radio anchor/reporter) is that unlike some social groups… they’re NOT alcohol centric.

As with EVERY Business After Hours, something good has happened. Yes, there ARE prizes and really great ones… but what I’m talking about is a true benefit to Welcome To Housing.

At the one last night, we greeted every single person coming in.

I had a chance to meet Roland, Jan Doucette’s brother, who is a new volunteer and an accountant who wants to help WTH with future plans like eventually setting up an endowment and other financial plans to ensure our organization’s longevity and financial security for years to come.

I also ran into the Executive Director of the Ellsworth Area Chamber of Commerce along with a couple of her staffers. That timed out well as I told them about the meeting I had with Debbie Burgess from Families First Community Center in Ellsworth and our plans to pull together a virtual meeting (hopefully one of many) between WTH and the many social service agencies in Hancock and Washington counties we’ve helped.

And icing on the cake was seeing Chase Guerrette, a financial advisor. His Mom, Kim is my former March of Dimes volunteer and blinding ray of sunshine from Presque Isle… who is interested in sitting in on that virtual meeting with Hancock and Washington County agencies, why? Well, in addition to being recently retired, and being a powerful, uplifting soul, can give us some great input. The Bangor Daily News, the day after I met with Debbie Briggs, had an article how Aroostook (The County) County was negotiating with Hancock and Washinton counties to network closer together to improve services as certain forces in Washington, D.C. are gutting social service funds like a fish.

Well, it’s getting late, and I can tell by the look in your eyes, you’re getting weary. Thank You for actually reading this verbose diatribe and I learned something recently…I took the time to look up a word or rather a description that was bequeathed upon yours truly. I looked up its meaning and was fascinated by how chatty people can or should be dealt with…I got it straight from Google…

“How to politely deal with a loquacious person? Change the conversation: If an excessive talker is monopolizing the conversation, suggest a change of conversation or ask a question of someone else in the group. Excuse yourself: Don't be afraid to interrupt, to excuse yourself from a conversation. Try to be polite and firm, even if they object.”

Have a peaceful week, weekend, morning, Noon or night and if you ACTUALLY read these, I would LOVE to know someone out there reads these… and I’m not just chattering away in the dark…

Peace and Love,

Christopher Olsen

Founder & Board President