Bangor homeless shelter gives thanks for support

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For several years, Bangor Area Homeless Shelter Executive Director Dennis Marble has asked me to express to you, through this column, the gratitude of all associated with that fine organization for your continued generous support.

I am always happy to accommodate his request, and this year is no exception.

After 19 years of incorporation and 17 years of being open, Marble still worries that the list of those to be thanked is so long that he might miss a person or an organization.

“Many individual groups and organizations contribute to our being able to continue to offer emergency shelter and critical services to people who are homeless or close to the edge,” he explained.

Marble first thanks all those “who make financial contributions,” since the shelter remains “in real need of this support” because “all government funding earmarked for homeless services at our agency equals less than 40 percent of annual costs.”

Individuals, families, service organizations, churches, synagogues and businesses make up the remaining funds, along with other organizations such as United Way of Eastern Maine and philanthropic foundations and trusts.

Marble sincerely thanks all the volunteers, who “are an essential part of our team,” for providing lunches or dinners for 30-40 people per sitting.

In all, those volunteers are dishing out “35,000 servings per year,” Marble wrote.

Other volunteers “perform projects and-or provide repairs and improvements” for which funds are not available.

“Service collaborators,” he wrote, such as “public officials and other shelters and similar organizations, from the Maine State Housing Authority to the city of Bangor” and beyond, are also major contributors.

Marble sadly concludes, however, that “all the indicators point to the fact that we will continue to need all this support. Homeless demand has steadily increased” not only here but also in shelters nationwide.

“We believe that homelessness should not be a growing norm,” he wrote, “increasingly institutionalized and almost accepted, and the topic begs for public policy discussions at every level of government.

“In the meantime, we thank all who help us as we try to help folks, right here, one at a time.”

And then he wrote of Bill, who after living with and caring for his elderly and disabled parents found himself homeless.

“He hadn’t worked for years, and although he didn’t know it, had developed clinical depression,” Marble explained.

“When he came to our doors, he had nothing in the material sense, and not much left of his self-esteem.”

Shelter staff met his emergency needs and referred him to other critical providers.

With “entitlements, for which he was well qualified,” Bill received therapeutic support from Penobscot Community Health Center representatives who work at the shelter and, with support from the city’s General Assistance program, “is now a tenant in one of the shelter’s third-floor efficiencies.

“The board of directors and the staff” of BAHS, Marble concluded, “thank all who have helped us in our mission to help people like Bill.”

The Winterport Fire and Rescue Association will host two events that honor Stan Bowden, who recently retired as its chief after 42 years with the department.

The first event is an appreciation banquet at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21, at the Bangor Elks Club.

Tickets are $12.50 per person, and Tom Skratt has announced that the reservation deadline to attend the banquet has been extended to Wednesday, Jan. 11.

Banquet reservations can be made by calling Skratt at 223-5326. Checks should be sent to the Winterport Town Office, P.O. Box 599, Winterport 04496.

Skratt also announced that State Fire Marshal John Dean will make a presentation to Bowden.

The second event honoring Bowden is an open house at 1 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 22, at the Samuel L. Wagner Middle School in Winterport.

Refreshments will be served, and there is no charge to attend.

Writing on behalf of the Brewer Community Service Council and the Brewer Christian Food Cupboard, Ellie Bertolaccini of Orrington “thanks the citizens and the schools of Brewer, for their very generous donations of food and money.

“The Brewer Community Service Council prepared 96 Christmas food baskets for the less fortunate in our community,” she wrote, “which was very much appreciated by them.

“We also thank Howard Kroll for organizing the food drive,” she added, “and the employees of Brewer Auditorium, for their assistance in this project.”

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; 990-8288.