Down East folks pitch in to help raise funds for chapel at Machias hospital

MACHIAS – The effort to build a chapel within the Down East Community Hospital is taking place the Down East way – everybody pitches in with donations and volunteered hours.

Now that the hospital has been connected with the new Maine Veterans Home, which opened last September, plans are to include a nondenominational chapel within the new floor plan.

That will cost about $80,000.

With fundraising taking place just since September, the hospital is more than halfway to its goal. The hope is to raise the rest of the money through the summer, allowing for the chapel’s grand opening in the fall or by year’s end.

The hospital’s 250 employees together have contributed $11,000 of the $42,000 raised so far.

A single event last month – an International Food Festival dinner and auction – raised $16,000 toward the chapel project on one evening alone.

More than 250 dined on dishes from 30 countries, all prepared by locals with ties to those countries. They filled the cafeteria at the University of Maine at Machias and stayed for a postdinner auction.

The dinner wasn’t on anyone’s calendar until area clergy seized upon it at a chapel planning meeting in January. Pastors, deacons and others from more than a dozen southern Washington County churches then went to work to make the event happen.

Now the hospital plans to make the dinner an annual event to help fund the next sizable need.

But the best outcome of the clergy getting together to plan the dinner was their decision to continue to support the chapel planning process and work together on other interfaith community issues that arise.

“Raising money and awareness for the chapel has been a first step in being able to tackle some other community issues together,” said Robin Popp, director of the Down East Health Trust, the fundraising arm of the hospital.

The clergy who organized the food festival selected for committee co-chairs Betty Palmer of the Jacksonville United Methodist Church and Rich Thomas of Jonesport Wesleyan Church.

Dona Emerson of Machias Community of Christ; Jim Gillen of Holy Name Catholic Church; Iza Kaplan of International Ministries; and Gini King of Centre Street Congregational Church all served on the committee.

So did Grace Mazhandu of Faith United Methodist Church; Betty Seidle of St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church; Ken Thatch of Jonesboro Union Church; George Woodward of Sawyer Memorial Congregational Church; and Doug Watermolen of Lifespring Chapel.

Those same ministers will return to the planning of the chapel itself. Because the hospital is open to all, the nondenominational chapel will have a serene, reflective and generic feel.

There will be no permanent symbols of faith, but there will be pews, stained glass, flowers and a waterfall.

“We want it to be truly an interfaith chapel where all feel welcomed,” Popp said.

Supporters of the chapel who give gifts of $500 or more will be recognized on a wall of etched tiles.

The chapel will be 495 square feet with seating for about 20 people. It will be located next to the hospital’s new Skylight Cafe and gift shop off the general waiting area. Those elements are all part of the hospital’s reshaped visitor center.

Residents of the next-door veterans’ home will be welcome to use the chapel for services and personal quiet times.

Popp, who moved to Machias in August, has gone from Milbridge to Lubec to promote the hospital and its chapel project.

“Many people don’t realize that the hospital has never had a chapel,” Popp said, noting the hospital was built in 1964. “Or they may have been to the hospital for a traumatic situation and would have appreciated having a chapel to go to for a few minutes.

“It’s been good to hear those stories from the community.”

Community coming together to plan, donate to and prepare for the chapel has proceeded through the winter. Now, as more people become aware of the project through their churches, the chapel will emerge as a place for all faiths through all seasons.