WTH Bi-Weekly Blog October 16, 2026
Welcome To Housing Home Goods Bank, Incorporated
Bi-Weekly Blog October 16, 2026
Relationships. It ALL relies on relationships when you’re talking about nonprofit management. I did the math recently and I have been in the field of nonprofit management now for over 38 years. I’ve volunteered for many more years than that, but I was hired by the Maine State Chapter March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation July 1, 1988. I have held paid positions since then with the American Cancer Society, Hope House, The Bangor Symphony Orchestra, Adoptive and Foster Families of Maine and Kinship Care. Then there was 12+ years in radio including an internship in the Promotions Department of WBCN radio in Boston and 21 years in real estate, I DO know my way around people and interacting with them.
I heard that a furniture company that gives us very nice traded in furniture wasn’t going to work with us anymore because they never heard back from us. I remedied that situation with ONE phone call and explained when they had enough stuff, that they were to call ME and it was all good.
In less than an hours I am meeting with the volunteers to discuss shifting gears for the “Count Our Blessings Camp-In” event that I saw hurtling towards the guard rails. My wife, Robin, had a great suggestion. Rather than trying to reschedule the event or simply watch it sputter and not do well, why not make this coming Saturday night a kick-off and keep the event one that any individual, business or organization can hold virtually/remotely on THEIR schedule and then we can award the prizes by November 20th just prior to Thanksgiving.
There are so many positives to that idea. We can get MORE participation, it will allow more time to plan and gather more prizes, and we won’t have to worry about a venue.
For years I have been trying to get the Board of Trustees to go with my idea of promoting those same sorts of businesses and organizations to create and host their own events, have us help promote them and then collect the money when they’re done.
An organization like ours with such a small board should NOT be trying to start an event from scratch. I can also tell from my years of experience when something is NOT going to work and the Camp-In had all the markers.
The first is NOT having allowed enough planning time to promote it. The second is not having a specific way for “campers” to sign up as participants. With the Relay For Life with the ACS and the MOD WalkAmerica events, they KNEW who was signed up to participate.
The part that did get done correctly was the sponsorship money, $2,000 of it, which more than covered the expenses for the event which included the printing of 200 canvas tote bags. Printing was also completely donated and there is still over $300 left in sponsorship.
If we kept on track to have the event as it stood, it wouldn’t raise much money and it wouldn’t really give the bang-for-the-buck for the sponsors. The sponsorship for events like that are not charitable donations but rather money from promotional efforts by companies to demonstrate involvement in the community.
It’s now Monday the 19th of October.
The event had just a handful of visitors from the musician that donated his time to play guitar, along with his roommate, who by chance, the roommate that is, is going to be performing at a church Jan Doucette is involved with.
Speaking of Jan, she also invited members of the Old Town Public Safety Department to join us in a meal. We ended up with one staffer and two police officers. It was good as they weren’t really familiar with the work we do.
Everything about the event was great but the only thing lacking was participants. We are going to fix that with the extension through November 20th. We’re also adding something that was lacking that Lisa Morin pointed out. We directed people to the website but there was no “registration” or “sign-up” form for people to fill out. What will really add to the event as well are people challenging one another whether it’s competing UMaine or Husson groups, businesses or agencies, or for that matter, even families.
There’s so much potential there, but it requires, if it’s run by our organization, to have ALL board members and volunteers promoting it.
At the next board meeting on the 27th I need to reiterate my point that our Board of Trustees is not nearly large enough in numbers to organize and oversee a successful special event fundraiser.
The food prepared by Chef Johsua Heikkinen was delicious, all four meals. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the chance to film him preparing any of the “on-a-budget” meals.
The focus though needs to remain not on food but rather what we do and those we serve and the fact that 99.9% of them start over with absolutely NOTHING. That was the point that we needed to emphasize with the Count Our Blessings Camp-In. Like I said before, it was supposed to be like taken a “moment of silence” to reflect on the fact that people help, start over with nada, bupkis, zero, zilch…NOTHING.
The people we’re trying to reach are not those we’re helping but the people with EVERYTHING that use it day-to-day and, like most of us, take it for granted.
When I first met with the (now retired) director of the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter, Dennis Marble, I personally NEVER stopped to think that people they helped, starting over from the Shelter, had NOTHING. In our society we can be extremely self-focused or self-absorbed. That’s where the N.I.MB.Y. gene kicks in. What’s N.I.M.B.Y. you ask?
Not In My Back Yard. The hardest things to raise money for are the same things people are SCARED of. The homeless, the addicted, the mentally ill and the elderly. None of those things are contagious but many people act as though they are.
Tuesday, October 20, 2026
No words can describe how much I look forward to the mid term elections being over. Not so much the elections themselves but all the constant vitriol of the political attack ads. Instead of promoting what a candidate WILL do, it goes on tirades about what their adversary’s WON’T do.
I went to check the mail today at the UPS Store and in addition to the large bill for insurance came in, the $10,000 check arrived from the Maine Justice Foundation. I get a kick out of my wife, Robin as she’s the final proofreader on grant applications we submit, who refers to the organization as the Maine “Justice League.”
I think it would be GREAT if Maine had its own Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman etc. but we already have a lot of everyday heroes up here.
The “Good Start” kits, laundry baskets, filled with basic goodies for people starting over will be fun to assemble but there’s another aspect that excites me. THAT is how much of the items we can get donated or purchase at a lesser amount. That’s where having Marden’s, Reny’s as well as other retailers who will probably help get many of the things we need free or at a discount.
The basket will have many of the things your Mom and Dad would have picked up for you as you moved from home to a college dormitory, etc.
So, over the next few weeks we will be getting the items to fill-in-the-blanks for those baskets.
We will also be looking at how we can get more businesses, agencies, clubs and organizations to simply hold a simple gathering and raise money while taking a short amount of time to reflect on how the people we help, start off with very little or nothing to set up housekeeping.
I’m also looking forward to the Board reaching out to the long list of potential volunteers that visited our displat at the Heart of Maine United Way Volunteer Fair.
The results of the “Camp-In” will also help reenforce what I have been saying to the board members over a number of years, is that it makes more sense to have individuals who are spark plugs or “champions” at their business, agency, club or organization organize and carry out their own fund/awareness raising event.
As a board that struggles to increase its numbers, taking on a fundraising event ourselves is just not the best idea. The great thing though is that with the Camp-In we had everything covered by sponsorship and we even have some money left over.
Well, I will be heading out for a couple of weeks, The other piece of news we got via the Zeffy fundraising program, was a notification of a long-time supporter sent us a $3,000 donation.
Have a peaceful couple of weeks.
Sincerely yours,
Christopher Olsen
Founder and Board of Trustees President
(207) 745-1287
Email: welcometohousing@gmail.com
