Welcome To Housing Home Goods Bank, Inc. Bi-Weekly Blog September 5, 2025
Welcome To Housing Home Goods Bank, Inc. Bi-Weekly Blog September 5, 2025
When Welcome To Housing started back in 2011 it was exciting to me as there was so much promise for growth and I had no idea that it would far surpass what I envisioned. As it started, it was to specifically help “guests” (the term used by the BAHS) from the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter. That was in the autumn of 2011 and by May of 2012 we opened up to any and all agencies as we had more furniture and household goods than the Shelter had people moving out into permanent housing.
Jumping ahead to this year, we’re working on several things as WTH has grown in leaps and bounds. The growth is the result of a myriad of things. One reason sadly is the increased demand for our service and the fact that at last count we helped clients of 75 agencies and organizations. Within the last week, of the many calls I receive 7 days a week, there was yet another agency I hadn’t heard of with a client in need of furniture.
The other increase, which is great news, is that of the calls I receive, and screen are from people wanting to donate furniture and other items. That volume has increased significantly over the last few years.
That in turn resulted from a number of things but primarily due to the incredible support of the media. In one short period of time, we had a news story on NewsCenter Maine (the NBC affiliate) which is WLBZ2 in Bangor as well as WCSH6 in Portland. It was several minutes long and ran several times over on both TV stations.
Then shortly after that, the Maine Campus, the University of Maine Newspaper which is online as well as in print did a brief promotional piece and then a full blown article about WTH. In addition to the students and faculty of the University of Maine, I reminded myself it is also read by many UMaine Alumni.
As we got a presentation packet together to send to potential sponsors/donors, we were looking for a brief anecdote that gives the reader an idea of the impact of our program. Lisa Tissari shared an experience that truly fits the bill:
Late last winter, I received a call from a distraught older woman, “Mrs. H.” She told me in a wavering voice that she was in a skilled nursing facility. She tearfully said, “I know you won’t have one, but I need a hospital bed or I will have to stay here and I want to go home.” I replied, “Well, Mrs. H, I have a hospital bed available at our warehouse at 333 Main Street in Old Town and it is YOURS.” She began sobbing and said, “You mean I can go HOME? I CAN GO HOME?” Tears welled up in my eyes as I replied, “Yes, you absolutely can go home Mrs. H. We will make that happen for you.”
L. Tissari, Durable Medical Supply Lead
Welcome to Housing
It’s experiences like this for our volunteers, yours truly included, that make all the time we put in, worth it.
My phone seems to be constantly busy with calls, texts, including group texts to connect volunteers and people who can help, along with emails, and seven social media platforms, but as overwhelming as it can be somedays, it’s ALSO very much worth it. Empathy along with compassion are two assets we ask ALL volunteers to have.
Two more things. Two are NEW and one is a reminder.
The reminder first. We WELCOME your returnables! In addition to having Clynk Bags and Labels we can provide your club or organization (if you would like some GREAT promotion and publicity) if you’d like to do a benefit bottle drive for us, you “can” (bad pun) also just do one with a local redemption center. And know that your “empties” CAN really add up. For more information, email welcometohousing@gmail.com
The two NEW (who KNEW?) things are these:
Thank you goes to Joe Lawlor and Darling’s Kia. Darling’s LOVES ice cream promotions to help nonprofits. If you visit Darling’s Kia in the month of September, the showroom at 729 Hogan Road in Bangor, you can grab a free ice cream from their freezer. There’s no cost BUT they will have a collection container for people to leave a donation.
The GREAT thing about this type of promotion? It goes far beyond just collecting donations from generous people who make it a point to visit the showroom, it is ALSO another great way to get our name out there and awareness for our organization and Mission! So, to help you remember to visit, think of the Chia Pet ads and their jingle and instead, let your “earworm” singers and band play “Kah-Kah-Kah-KIA! If you visit the showroom for Darling’s Kia and make a donation and grab an ice cream treat, the chill from that ice cream will help subdue that earworm… “Kah-Kah-Kah-KIA! Oh nuts, now it’s stuck in MY head too. I guess I will have to go and visit them soon.
I left them a voicemail at Darling’s Kia as 99.9-percent of the time, inspiration hits after normal business hours.
The OTHER new thing? Well it’s like the wedding saying, “Something OLD, something NEW, something BORROWED, (and keeping with puns, unintended or otherwise) something BLEW!” Nope, not a FUSE…Just yours truly realizing he needs to wrap this up…
The Old? From a former gig I had with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra. Something NEW? An idea for Welcome To Housing. Something Borrowed? That would be a Great concept to get more people involved as volunteers, whilst at the same time, raising MORE awareness and helping add to our nonprofit’s income stream.
It’s something that is often associated with older, more mature volunteers, so I guess the something “Blue” could be the hair color of a more mature person that had a bad hair day with their stylist… But we won’t go there.
There was and still may be a group of people called “Friends of the Symphony.”
It was a great group of people who may or may not have been on the Symphony Board either currently or in the past. They would do events that would raise funds as well as awareness for the BSO and if I remember correctly one of their members would show up around every fiscal quarter with a check.
They did a wonderful job as a VERY social organization that promoted the Bangor Symphony Orchestra… ALL YEAR LONG!
So, we’ve started talking with some of our volunteers about this concept. Having a group of friends or club or a combination of both taking on the task of having FUN and spreading the good word about the work we do and how it benefits people in need AND makes for a happier community, knowing that people we help won’t be left in the literal and figurative “cold.”
One such volunteer I have shared the idea with is a VERY special lady named Marie Kaplowitz. And again here’s the “small world” recurring. Marie a few years ago was working for an advocacy program for senior citizens in Waldo County called Spectrum Generations. My late father, William Olsen did similar work in Lincoln County, Maine called Senior Spectrum.
I hadn’t heard from Marie and really didn’t know her, despite having gone to high school with her daughters, Lynne and her youngest daughter (God rest her soul) the late Lori Kaplowitz.
How did Marie and I find each other? She called WTH out of the blue to ask if we could help locate a 4-wheel scooter. It DID take a while but after visiting a gathering of Fusion Bangor (the more modern version of the Junior Chamber or Jaycees) we met the donor, from a local museum who had one to spare.
Well, after that success and having the scooter delivered (at no charge by a friend and his son who worked for a local car rental company) for a retired Emergency Medical Technician who moved to Maine with hopes of opening up a training program for local emergency responders, a heart issue shot those plans down. And the other bummer was the fact she couldn’t walk or ride a bike around town to where she wanted to be. After very happily accepting the scooter, we learned in addition to being able to take herself to the nearby (up a hill) Dollar General and (down the same hill) to take her fishing pole to fish off one of the wharves where the wharf owner was happy to give her permission.
NOW the ICING on the Kaplowitz Kake???
Marie who has been sadly widowed for years, met, started dating and moved in with a wonderful man and get this… Moved to ORONO! That’s right. The University community that neighbors Old Town, where our “warehouse” is located.
AND NOW… For Something COMPLETELY different:
Recently I wrote up a background of our program to share with the City Manager of Bangor. It’s because they’ve asked for agencies and organizations interested in receiving some of the Opioid Settlement Funds. I had already spoken with the grant facilitator from the Penobscot County Commission and shared the same information and was encouraged to apply in October when guidelines will be in place.
Here’s the general proposal, not asking for a specific amount or for a specific project but the fact remains, we help sober living homes and also people in recovery, including those whose lives have been affected by opioids. In addition to those individuals, there is a litany of others whose lives have been forever changed because a loved one has been struggling with opioid addiction or worse, they’ve lost someone to an overdose.
To: Carollynn Lear, Bangor City Manager city.manager@bangormaine.gov
From: Christopher Olsen, Founder and Board President, Welcome To Housing Home Goods Bank, Inc.
August 28, 2025
Opioid Settlement Funds Proposal to City of Bangor Maine
Greetings!
I hope all is well for you and everyone at Bangor City Hall. It must be nice to be back in the building after the renovations were completed.
I wanted to put in our two-cents regarding the Opioid Settlement Funds.
Welcome To Housing Home Goods Bank, Inc. is a 100-percent volunteer driven 501(c)(3) nonprofit furniture bank (EIN: 82-2050478) with our warehouse in Old Town and mailing address in Bangor (499 Broadway, PMB #333, Bangor, Maine 04401).
We provide FREE furniture, home essentials (things for kitchen, bed and bath), as well as home décor, holiday decorations and we’re also proud of our adaptive equipment program. We have had everything from hospital beds to Hoyer lifts, canes, crutches, walkers, commodes, etc. On occasion we also purchase items like cribs, child car safety seats and medical items like nebulizers. This part of the program comes in handy when insurance companies deny requests for much needed items and the recipients can’t afford to purchase on their own.
Even though we are completely volunteer driven and everything we provide is free, there is still a cost of doing business from utilities, transport costs (fuel and truck rental to pick up larger volume or multi location donations of furniture) and also insurance, both liability and for our building.
Although we’re just up the road in Old Town the majority of agencies and their clients we serve are from Bangor and/or are housed in Bangor.
In addition to individuals (including veterans) and families, we also provide furniture and other items to shelter programs and sober living homes.
Once a person in a sober living home (Fresh Start, Inc., Hope House, Wellspring, Inc.) graduates from the program and moves into permanent housing, we’re there to help them. I would say there is a likelihood that we have helped (and continue to help) people who have either battled opioid addiction or have been in a living situation with someone who has had that battle and has affected the lives of their family, friends and other loved ones.
The University of Maine does at lot of volunteer work with us and we had a Technical Writing class (headed up by Professor Kathryn Swacha) write the narrative for a successful grant application. I’ve included an excerpt from that grant application that really shows the need and how our program can help:
Furniture poverty is an unfortunate reality for many of our clients across Maine, particularly in our main service area of Penobscot County. Twelve percent of households in Maine fell below the federal poverty level in 2021. 14% of Penobscot County residents currently live at or below the poverty line, which for a family of 4 means $26,500 in total income [1] The ALICE Household Survival Budget found that a family of four required a total income of $70,908 to afford housing, food, transportation, and other basic needs, leaving many families to make the choice between paying for furniture or other basic necessities.
The affordable housing crisis in Maine compounds this financial burden. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, 75% of extremely low-income families in Maine spend more than 30% of their income on housing costs and utilities. Given the currently high rate of inflation (3.3 %), it is becoming increasingly difficult for many people to afford the basic necessities they need like kitchenware, sheets, and beds. Without access to no-cost furnishings, every person moving into an empty apartment requires a minimum of $8,000 in funds to turn empty housing into a furnished home. Research shows that without proper furnishings and household items, 50% of the families entering their new housing arrangements may return to shelters within a year. The climate conditions in Maine also increase the need for warm, comfortable shelter and access to soft goods like blankets, sheets, and towels.
We wanted to see if the City of Bangor’s Opioid Settlement Funds Advisory Committee would consider our program when distributing those funds.
Thank you,
Sincerely yours,
Christopher Olsen
Founder and Board President
[1] Report: 42% of Maine households are struggling to afford basic living expenses | Maine Public
I’m also looking forward to attending the Penobscot Community Health Care Annual Dinner. I think this will be the third year I will be attending. The first year was to be one of the recipients of the Doty-Woodward Award. It’s named for two men, both named Mark.
One is Mark Doty, the now retired Pastor of the Hammond Street Congregational Church and the other is also retired, Mark Woodward from the Bangor Daily News Editorial Department. Remind me to tell you later about the great connections to both of those gentlemen.
This year’s Keynote Speaker is none other than Doctor Nirav Shah. He was the face on TV, the voice in radio and the spokesman for the Maine Centers For Disease Control when Covid-19 was ravaging so many lives here in Maine and across the globe. If memory serves, he went to work for the National Centers For Disease Control and then most recently, returned to the State of Maine. I’m looking forward to meeting him as he was a true “voice of reason” during the pandemic. If I remember, I also hope to inquire if he ever got to work with one of the National heroes of the Pandemic, Doctor Celine Gounder who was another voice of reason especially when conspiracy theorists ran rampant during the pandemic. She is an American physician and medical journalist who specializes in infectious diseases and global health.
The pandemic brought up a LOT of things, but I remember a conversation years ago I had with Paul Husson (God rest his soul) at Husson College, before its transition to Husson University. I was working with the March of Dimes at the time and if you remember, it was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt that worked to unite the nation and raise funds to try and develop a vaccine for Polio. Dr. Jonas Salk is the one credited for that and his brother Lee Salk has a connection to Maine with the towns of Pembroke and Rockwood.
Jonas Salk made no direct profit from his polio vaccine because he chose not to patent it. He believed that the vaccine should be freely available and affordable for everyone, famously stating, "There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?". His decision was to maximize global distribution and save as many lives as possible, rather than to personally profit from the discovery.
One of the other great hopes we have this year is to be selected as a nonprofit partner with the Bangor Region Leadership Institute.
Here is the information on the original invitation to join BRLI’s Class of 2026 as their Nonprofit Partner:
Applications for the Class of 2026 Nonprofit Partner are now open.
Since 2007 the Bangor Region Leadership Institute has partnered with regional nonprofit organizations to facilitate an important aspect of the BRLI curriculum: the Nonprofit Partner Projects. Each year participants are tasked with working with a nonprofit organization to provide fresh insights and an innovative solution to address challenges in that organization and further its mission.
The Nonprofit Partnership is a critical component to the BRLI experience. It helps participants grow and put their leadership skills to use while making an impact on nonprofits that are integral to the community.
Past nonprofit partners have included: Bangor Area Homeless Shelter, Phillips-Strickland House, The Challenger Center, The Hammond Street Senior Center, Bangor Area Junior Achievement, Literacy Volunteers of Bangor, Penobscot Theatre Company, Bangor Public Library, Ronald McDonald House of Bangor, the American Red Cross, Fields for Kids, Unlimited Solutions Clubhouse, Maine Discovery Museum, Robinson Ballet, Greater Region Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Maine Academy of Modern Music, Empty Arms, the Maine Forest and Loggin Museum, and most recently, Dignity First.
Various achievements that have been made thanks to BRLI are:
· Curriculum development and implementation
· Revamped and new fundraising events
· New programming to further nonprofit’s mission
· New marketing strategies and techniques
At the end of the year BRLI presents a plan to the nonprofit and its Board of Directors that outlines how to put the project into effect, allowing the nonprofit to utilize a step-by-step guide backed up by months of research.
To share with you our application is something years ago I wouldn’t even consider as I would have worried that it would “jinx” our chances but if there is ANYTHING I have learned over the last, nearly 14 years of our organization’s existence, quite the opposite is true.
It’s like the “Karma” that comes back to bless us with good fortune. In other words, rather than whatever we’re working on or hoping for DOESN’T go off the rails…it generally works out. My theory is, is that when I share our hopes, dreams, application narratives… there’s a HUGE number of people like you out there who think positive thoughts and envision us succeeding…
If you’ve followed us at all over the years, you KNOW about the “small world” stories and how when we need something to come through, it comes through, often times unexpectedly but ALWAYS welcomed.
A small example was today a lady called who is helping another lady who is dealing with a LOT of challenges with her health and is helping her adapt her living space to make it easier for her. Without going into detail, one of the things they requested was a sprayer hose and head that could be attached to the shower so that bathing would in turn be simpler. Having some similar health issues and knowing the benefit of a handheld shower head, I was excited that we could help. I told the lady advocating for the lady in need that if needed we could purchase one new from Amazon or Home Depot.
As I was meeting with Joe Lawlor who heads up marketing and is our one and only (and original webmaster) and our fundraising committee chair, I received a text message from Lisa Tissari that read, “I think we have a shower sprayer at the warehouse.”
So, without further ado, or as Betty Boop would say, Boop, Boop, Be-Doop…
Here’s the questions and responses we included into the online application to the Bangor Region Leadership Institute:
This is merely a copy of what the online fields had for questions and what we populated those fields with.
Nonprofit Partner Application Form
Deadline for Applications is Monday, September 4, 2025.
Nonprofit Partner Application
Top of Form
Nonprofit Organization:*
Welcome To Housing Home Goods Bank, Incorporated. 501(c)(3) 82-2050478
Contact Person & Title:*
Christopher K. Olsen, Founder and Board President
Phone Number:*
(207) 745-1287-Cell
Email*
welcometohousing@gmail.com
Please share the mission of your nonprofit organization and whether you are a 5013c*
Welcome To Housing Home Goods Bank, Inc (WTH) directly provides Mainers experiencing poverty with the basic household items that they need. While there is much needed support across our communities for people to attain housing and food, the necessity of home goods is often forgotten. And yet, we have witnessed individuals trying to open a can of food with a rock. Without a can opener, a dish, and a spoon, it is extremely difficult to eat food obtained at a food pantry. Without a mattress to sleep on, it is extremely difficult to get the rest necessary to hold down a job and maintain an apartment.
We operate on the belief that furniture and home goods are a basic and immediate human necessity. As an all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) nonprofit home goods bank, we serve the community by directly providing clients with necessary household items–such as mattresses, cookware, blankets, and tables–just like a food bank provides their clients with necessary food. We also provide older and disabled Mainers with much needed adaptive equipment, such as walkers, commodes, and seats. These items help our older and disabled clients to live safely and independently in their homes.
Our clients include people moving into permanent housing after experiencing homelessness or after living in shelter programs; people displaced by disasters such as house fires; families and individuals escaping domestic violence; immigrants moving to Maine; people reentering society from corrections; low-income older and disabled Mainers; and others lacking resources. We serve individuals (including veterans), families, and other organizations like shelters and sober houses.
Our mission as a furniture bank is to provide furniture, household essentials, home décor, holiday decorations and adaptive equipment to distribute free of charge to people in need throughout Maine. We help people starting over from different circumstances, including but not limited to:
People moving into permanent housing from shelters and sober living homes, those displaced by disasters like house fires, people escaping domestic violence, immigrants moving to Maine, people reentering the community from corrections, adoptive, foster and kinship families, and anyone else in need.
From a successful grant narrative written by a UMaine Technical Writing class, they learned many interesting facts about furniture poverty and its effects. Research shows that without proper furnishings and household items, 50% of the families entering their new housing arrangements may return to shelters within a year.
We are a 100-percent volunteer driven 501(c)(3) nonprofit EIN: 82-2050478
Tell us about important opportunities your nonprofit organization wants to address:*
As we have mentioned, we are completely run by volunteers but with the growing demand over the last decade (our 14th anniversary is in October) we’ve been working to build our base of volunteers and also looking at more specialized needs for volunteers. Starting from scratch in 2011 we’ve grown steadily over the years. In the last couple of years thanks to increasing media coverage and our social media we’ve seen the numbers of people we serve increase dramatically. In the fall of 2024, we reached out to the SCORE (Senior Corps of Retired Executives) and we’ve been working with a mentor from that program now to update our bylaws, as we’ll as update our board charter and the charters for the different committees.
Please provide the name of the primary contact for the project*
Christopher K. Olsen, Founder and Board President
Please provide the name of the secondary contact for the project*
Robin Pinkham, Treasurer
Does your organization have a Board of Directors? If so, please provide a list of those who serve on the board.*
Yes:
Christopher Olsen, President, Volunteer Development
Lisa Tissari, Vice President Chair Community Outreach
Melony Stockley, Secretary
Robin Pinkham, Treasurer
Janet Doucette
SammiJo Thibeault
Joe Lawlor
Craig Saunders
Laura Sanborn
Tyson Martin
Doug Dunbar
Crystal Waiculonis
Has the board of directors approved the application to be a BRLI non-profit partner?*
Yes, the Board has approved it and is excited about the opportunity.
Your nonprofit understands that BRLI will not be allowed to do any fundraising for your project. Please provide your initials.*
CKO
Please describe your non-profits organizational chart and how easily decisions and change can be made.*
Decisions are easily made as the Board meets every month and members are each involved in one of several committees including:
Governance
Finance and Fiscal Performance
Fundraising
Integrated Marketing and Communications
Outreach and Public Engagement
Volunteer Development
We have a board of trustees that meets monthly, the last Tuesday of the Month and committees include:
Can your organization commit to working with BRLI up to 5 hour per month during the duration of the project? (November through April)*
Yes we can.
Tell us about important problems your nonprofit organization needs to solve:*
One of our challenges as an all-volunteer driven nonprofit is to recruit, train and retain more people to help as volunteers in a myriad of ways. Our board is a healthy one but we’ve developed active committees to address different areas that will allow WTH to grow as the demand for our service continues to grow as it has for the last 14 years (Our 14th anniversary is October 9, 2025)
Please elaborate on why you would like to partner with the Bangor Region Leadership Institute*
We feel that the level of talent and interest in honing leadership skills is a great match in that WTH works to keep a continuum of volunteers from younger ages from high school clubs and organizations like Key Clubs, through University/Colleges working with classes, clubs and organizations affiliated with local secondary education. We’ve always working to expand our outreach through different sources from traditional print and electronic media, social media and public tabling events and speaking engagements.
Please elaborate on why you would like to partner with the Bangor Region Leadership Institute:*
Other Comments:
In addition to being an all-volunteer driven 501(c)(3) nonprofit, we want as many people to understand that we’re truly a direct service program. With more than 70 agencies and organizations sending their clients our way, we attempt to contact them right away and are given a chance to schedule an appointment. We do not require vouchers and social service professionals have referred to WTH as not only a “low barrier” resource, but also a “no barrier” resource.
In 2024, from January 1st through December 31st, we are proud to share the following statistics:
We served 1,807 individuals last year
We helped 903 families
We kept an estimated 46.8 tons of furniture and other items from going into the waste stream/landfill prematurely.
Okay, it’s nearly 8:30 pm on Friday, September 5, 2025, and I’ve got my Altec Lansing headphones on that I found on discount at Staples listening to Denis Leary and now Wall of Voodoo’s Mexican Radio and it’s time to wrap it up.
Oh yes, the two Marks? Mark Doty, the now retired Pastor and Mark Woodward the now retired managing editor from the Bangor Daily News? I will explain more how Penobscot Community Health Care honor them with an award named for them… in a future BWB… Bi-Weekly Blog.
May much love, peace and compassion come your way as we all work to put more humanity back into the community.
I’m grateful for your support!
Christopher Olsen
Flounder and Bored President…
NO…FOUNDER and BOARD President.
Thank God It’s FRIDAY! I need to drink less Consonant Comment Tea
