DEXTER – The kind of music that flows from a house of worship is normally the deep, reverberating tones of an organ, but any kind of music can be heard coming from within a Dexter church on the third Saturday of most months.

That’s when the Unitarian Universalist Church opens its doors for its monthly Coffeehouse, offering individuals a chance to share their talents, as well as raising funds for nutritional programs in local schools.

“It’s all kind of interconnected,” said Jim Bunn, a church member and Coffeehouse organizer. “It just gives people an opportunity and we just feel really good about it.”

What started five years ago as a twice-a-year gathering of talented individuals and featured groups has grown into a monthly affair from August through March with the exception of December.

It was the nutritional programs that prompted the Coffeehouse. Bunn, a farmer and former teacher, said the idea was hatched at a time of turmoil in the town. There was much unrest about school spending, so much so that it took six budget hearings before a final spending plan was approved. “It was a very divisive time,” he said.

Supportive of education and school programs, Bunn and a few of his friends brainstormed ideas to help local schools. The result was a family nutrition program developed for first grade pupils in SAD 46 funded by a Department of Agriculture grant.

With help from parents, volunteers and teachers, pupils learned about good nutrition over a five-week period ending with a nutritional meal served to the pupils and their families. “We got a tremendous response,” Bunn said of the meal. He said about 90 percent of the parents of the pupils participated. That’s a much better percentage than parent-teacher visits receive, Bunn said.

When the grant was no longer available the second year, the organizers set out to raise the approximately $700 needed annually to continue the nutrition program. Thus was conceived the Coffeehouse.

The kickoff to the Coffeehouse each season is a free outdoor musical concert held in August. There were 30 performers at last year’s concert, according to Bunn. “This is kind of the end of summer, but it starts out the whole season of the Coffeehouse,” he said.

Because organizers never could predict what they were going to get for talent each month, Bunn said the church decided to feature a more professional group at each Coffeehouse. The night begins with an open mike where anyone can perform and ends with featured musicians.

Most recently, the organizers began offering a meal of soup, bread and dessert at a nominal fee to the public before the performances.

Bunn said 90 percent of the admission fee pays for the featured act and the remaining 10 percent funds church improvements. The proceeds from the meal and refreshments raise more than enough to support the nutrition program, he said. In fact, the funds have also been used to purchase a speaker system and a piano for the church.

The Coffeehouse, which opens at 7 p.m. and has an average attendance of about 50 people, features a variety of talents. Some do readings and poetry while others sing and play instruments in the vestry in the church basement.

A number of the performers wind up forming musical groups or joining existing ones, according to Bunn. William Davis, 10, of Harmony first performed on the violin at the Coffeehouse when he was 6 years old. Today, he plays in the Bangor Youth Symphony.

And all kinds of instruments are played at the Coffeehouse, including homemade devices, according to the church official. One man took the neck of a guitar and made it into a drum box for his accompaniment, he said. “It’s an incredible little instrument,” Bunn said. “It allows people to be innovative.”

The Coffeehouse will feature the musical talent of Evergreen on Jan. 20. A contradance is planned in February to celebrate the 200th anniversaries of the settlements of Dexter, Garland and Exeter.