Welcome To Housing Bi-Weekly Blog for May 15, 2026
Greetings everyone out there is Social Media Land!
In addition to having our solar array up and running thanks to the folks with Black Bear Solar, as of this afternoon of today, Tuesday, May 12th, we will also HAVE INTERNET!
There are so many reasons we NEED, not just WANT Wi-Fi. First on the list is SAFETY. Having less than stellar phone signal for our cellphones makes it less safe if we need to call for assistance OR if someone is trying to reach one of our volunteers. A good example is a volunteer with kids, even teens who have health issues and I don’t want to see anything bad happen because a call can’t be completed. YES, people can step outside of the building to make a call but in an emergency, they should be able to call from ANYWHERE inside the building.
My beloved has been in the wireless field for 30+ years, and I know that cell signal is “line of sight” and I also know that if you have a LARGE brick apartment building between our building and wherever the cell tower(s) are, it can really rain on your parade.
It would also allow us to be able to MONITOR our solar array and how well it’s doing by sending power to the grid and also banking excess energy which we can get credit for during the colder winter months.
Later in the day, May 12th
Here I am, in the office SammiJo uses at 333 Main. It’s nice as one window faces the driveway and the other overlooks the side door that we use the most.
We had three quotes yesterday for Internet. One was Spectrum and the really low-cost plan called “Spectrum Essentials” is great but can only be utilized by someone who is low-income. The second quote was from Go Net Speed, and they were about $14 less than Spectrum.
Then I called Fidium Fiber and their quote was MUCH less if we provided our own modem and router. Then after consulting with the “Voice of Reason” (my beloved, Robin) we decided to go with the extra $5 a month to rent those items. Best reason too. If the modem or router stop working or has issues, FF will be the ones responsible for fixing it.
So as the technician Jed and I were talking about the fact we’re going to have security cameras at the far end of the building, it turns out for only $5 a month, you can have any number of signal boosters. So even after that, with the $5 a month deduction because we chose auto-pay, and adding on the $5 a month for signal boosters, we’re still only at $40 a month!
I had almost forgotten, my wife and I had donated a 17-inch laptop a few years back. It’s still here, so now it can actually be used online. We donated it because I wanted a smaller one and because it wasn’t on much, it would be installing updates just about every time it was turned on. That meant it was VERY slow.
Aaron, one of our really hardworking volunteers, is helping a young gentleman get his stuff together.
May 14, 2026
The podcast I started has 6 interviews posted to date on YouTube and I’m still trying to get ALL of them up on Spotify which sends it out to more of the podcast platforms. I share the information below when I’m in a Zoom type meeting and they ask for contact information to be posted in the chat.
ZOOM INFORMATION FOR CHAT:
Christopher Olsen Founder/President Welcome To Housing Home Goods Bank, Inc. (207) 745-1287. welcometohousing@gmail.com web: welcometohousing.com FREE furniture, household essentials and adaptive equipment for anyone in Maine. Host of NEW Podcast: “People, Places & Parables.” The focus is on people and organizations that help promote POSITIVE things happening in the community. To Date: A Bangor Man who started a Neighborhood Pet Food Pantry, The lady who works with her family to oversee Community Closet 207 in Ellsworth, Scott Pardy the Founder of Fresh Start, Inc. which has 21 Sober Living Homes and Jason Parent who heads up The Aroostook County Action Program (ACAP) which now also coordinates programs in Hancock and Washington Counties. The most recent was the Director of Community Impact, Elaine Thomas with the Heart of Maine United Way
Cpod04401@gmail.com Link to my podcast on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@PeoplePlacesParables
Thanks to having a second monitor hooked up to my laptop I can work on the blog while I am in the meeting of Penobscot County Cares. They have so far given out 500 phones with a month’s worth of service to people who are struggling, including those who are homeless. Once the preloaded month of service is up, they can work to get a phone card to add minutes. The program is so very important as even if you’re homeless, you still have doctor visits, meetings with advocates like caseworkers.
In your BEST John Cleese voice… “NOW for something COMPLETELY different!”
Next month I will be going down to Freeport (Yes, the hometown of L.L. Bean’s Flagship Store) and staying overnight.
The hotel I am staying at is hosting the SCORE (Service Corps Of Retired Executives) Awards for SCORE Chapters in Maine. Earlier this year, the Northern Maine Chapter, the one that provided our mentor, Dennis Wint was awarded the distinction of SCORE Chapter of the Year… Not for Maine, not for New England but for the COUNTRY!!!
Dennis’ “handler” as I like to call him, Richard Green over a month ago emailed me an application for Welcome To Housing to apply for the SCORE Success Award in the Nonprofit category. There wasn’t much time between receiving it and the deadline to apply. It was a really busy time, and I felt overwhelmed but because I am so grateful for what Dennis has already done for us to help guide us and share insight to make our bylaws better and make them more germane to our mission and our work. He is now working with us on developing our long-term goals and working on strategic planning. We also worked on developing other aspects of our organization as when we first started, we started small in 2011. As time went on, the demand increased for our services, and we started helping people moving from the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter into permanent housing. As there was such a strong response from the community, by May of 2012, we had more furniture and other items than the Shelter had people moving into housing.
Anyway, I digress, as we DID in fact apply for the SCORE Excellence Award and after hearing the great news from Richard Green, the Chapter Chair, I just received an Email from one of the State of Maine’s SCORE representatives.
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
I shared with the Trustees as well how the recognition can help us in other ways…
There are SO MANY additional benefits that come with this recognition!
· The SCORE (Service Corps Of Retired Executives) 12th Annual Success Awards Luncheon is the recognition event, 12:30 to 2:30 on Wednesday, June 10th. It’s being held at the Hilton Garden Inn, 5 Park Street in Freeport. There is NO COST for attendees. Let us know if you would like to attend.
· Our award is for the Nonprofit organization category.
· When looking on Google for more details, it turns out the Northen Maine Chapter of SCORE has been recognized was recognized NATIONALLY as the SCORE Chapter of the Year for 2026!
· Other “Easter Egg” is that the article about the Chapter receiving that national recognition is attributed to an article by MaineBiz magazine. YES, that MaineBiz! I have emailed the same magazine at least once to see if they would do an article about furniture banks in Maine.
· The Award can be mentioned in our upcoming grant applications to the Lindsay M. Trust (I had a feeling there was a reason we were putting off the application) and the John T. Gorman Foundation.
· In addition, the award will ALSO show that we are indeed a legitimate nonprofit that is focused on succeeding when it comes to helping people in need AND it demonstrates our commitment to the LONGEVITY of our organization.
Other fun facts… Applying to get a Mentor from SCORE was done on a WHIM, much in the way a “whim” led to the founding of Welcome To Housing. I was admiring the full-page flyer I designed that was printed at no charge and inserted in the Chamber of Commerce Newsletter, my little “inner voice” simply said, “CALL them!”
The Award will also be another feather in our cap as we approach more businesses who can be resources whether it’s through monetary support or volunteer recruitment or hopefully BOTH.
Well, it’s now 11:25 in the evening just a few minutes before Saturday Night Live comes on. We rarely watch it, but the musical guest is Paul McCartney and the host is Will Ferrell. So as John sang, he had a clue for us all, that the Walrus was Paul… and of course Will Ferrell who played Elf as well as Cowbell in the Christopher Walken sketch years ago when they paid tribute to Blue Oyster Cult and their cowbell infested hit, Don’t Fear The Reaper… I don’t ear the reaper, however, I have anxiety about dangling participles… I don’t even have any idea of what they are and don’t even plan to Google It!
Have a great couple of weeks!
Sincerely yours,
Christopher Olsen
Founder and Board of Trustees President
And Podcaster Nouveau
