Welcome To Housing Home Goods Bank, Inc. Bi-Weekly Blog for October 3, 2026

Greetings Everyone,

I hope all is well for all of you… all 1 or 2 people who actually read these.

It’s OFFICIAL. I have had my first panic attack since 1974.

Why? Let’s see. We have an event that we hope to have as an ANNUAL signature event in the same way American Cancer Society has the Relay For Life (teams spending 24 hours walking in shifts around an outdoor track or the March of Dimes has the WalkAmerica/TeamWalk on the last Sunday in April.

The GOOD news is that the event is entirely 100-percent PAID FOR in advance. The venue of the Old Town-Orono YMCA is DONATED. All printing has been DONATED. There are 4 sponsors at $500 a pop that cover all the other expenses including the complimentary canvas totes that will be given out to the first 200 participants.

But, ALAS, there’s the issue. To date we have Nada, Zip, Zilch for participants signed up. One of the volunteers who was working on it diligently with me is also going to be tied up with her work, making her unable to do a lot of the things she wanted to do, and we needed her to do.

SO, I made yet another video to help drum up support and I have started insert the term “Slumber Party” into the videos and descriptions to hopefully clarify what we’re doing.

Saturday, October 3, 2026
For Immediate Release
Contact: Chris Olsen
call/text: (207) 745-1287
Email: welcometohousing@gmail.com

Slumber Party “Camp-In” Needs MORE Happy Campers

Welcome To Housing Home Goods Bank, Inc. is a 100-percent volunteer driven nonprofit 501(c)(3) nonprofit furniture bank based in Old Town that serves people from anywhere in the State of Maine.

October 17th  the Old Town-Orono YMCA is hosting a slumber party type event called the “Count Our Blessings Camp-In.” The event is completely underwritten by several sponsors including Machias Savings Bank, Sargent Corporation, Tyler Technologies and Bangor Savings Bank and all printing by the UPS Store in Bangor and the Old Town-Orono YMCA is hosting the event free of charge. This means that every Penny raised by those participating will benefit the Welcome To Housing program.

Founder and Board of Trustees President, Christopher Olsen says they’re asking people to come out to the event or participate remotely/virtually and inviting their family, friends and co-workers  to join them or sponsor them. There will be prize drawings with participant’s names entered for every $25 raised.

Sign Up kits are available and can be obtained by calling/texting (207) 745-1287 or by emailing welcometohousing@gmail.com.

Welcome To Housing provides furniture, home essentials and adaptive equipment at NO CHARGE to people in need and people are referred to the program by more than 80 different agencies and organizations. Welcome To Housing’s website is welcometohousing.com and they can be found on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Tik Tok, Twitter/X and YouTube.

October 9, 2026, marks the 15th anniversary of Welcome To Housing Home Goods Bank. They help individuals (including veterans) and families as well as shelters and sober living homes and people starting over from a myriad of situations including moving from shelters to permanent housing, those displaced by disasters like house fires, those escaping domestic violence, immigrants moving to Maine as well as people re-entering the community from corrections and any other people needing a hand-up.

In closing I wanted to mention again the two recent grants we’re getting. The Agnes M. Lindsay Trust gave us $6,000 for our adaptive equipment program and we’re waiting to receive the $10,000 grant check from the Maine Justice Foundation which will help us assemble a LOT of Good Start (as in get off to a Good Start) baskets with lots of essentials for people starting over, many of which are things we take for granted in some cases.

Have a great couple of weeks and if you don’t hear from me in a couple of weeks, I am likely curled up in a fetal position under one of my wife’s many handmade quilts, hiding from the World.

Respectfully,

Christopher Olsen
Founder and Board of Trustees President
welcometohousing@gmail.com

Call/Text (207) 745-1287