Renovation project binds groups Church, food pantry, town work together

BUCKSPORT – Thanks to a true community partnership and a lot of volunteer help, Bucksport Community Concerns has a new home in a familiar spot for the food pantry it runs each week.

Using town funding and the strong backs of members of the Elm Street Congregational Church, BCC has improved its longtime home in the church basement, giving it a bright place for the pantry it operates there.

The town provided about $30,000 to build a wheelchair-accessible entrance to the pantry and church members volunteered hundreds of hours to enclose the wheelchair ramp, install wallboard and paint what had been an unfinished basement room.

The project makes the food pantry wheelchair accessible for the first time in the 30 years that BCC has operated it in Bucksport. According to Marsha Mushrall, BCC co-president, that was the main reason for the project, and should allow the organization to serve more clients.

BCC, the church and the town will hold an open house and dedication today for the new space created in the basement of the Elm Street Congregational Church. The open house will run from 5 to 7 p.m., with the formal dedication scheduled for 6 p.m.

The project began more than a year ago, Mushrall said, when BCC considered building its own building that could house all of its programs, including the Talk N Shop, and make the pantry handicapped accessible. The town applied for a Community Block Grant, she said, but did not receive the funding to build the new building.

It was as BCC members began considering other options that the church got more involved.

“I had been wondering why a group that does so many good things in town was working out of an unfinished basement,” said Rev. Linda Smith, the Elm Street church’s minister. “The group has been in the church for 30 years. We didn’t want to lose them as tenants, so we asked ‘what can we do to help?”‘

BCC developed a wish list that they took to the church council and trustees, who, along with church members, voted unanimously to do the project. With plans in hand, the church and BCC went to the Town Council to seek the funding. Although it took several meetings, and there were some stipulations from the town, councilors approved up to $30,000 for the handicapped accessible ramp and restroom.

The partnership among the organization, the church and the town, he said, is a good one.

“I like these kinds of partnerships,” Raymond said. “They give you a good idea of what type of community you have. When you have the church, the organization and the town, that involves a lot of your citizens in a project.”

The work on the project reflects a “neighbor-helping-neighbor” attitude that exists in the town, according to Smith.

“In a small community, you need to see the assets in the community,” she said. “You can see a need, and, if we work together, we can tackle a big project.”

Church member Edward Belcher, who has worked in construction for most of his life, became the superintendent and head contractor for the project. But volunteers from the church provided the muscle. Although they hired a contractor to pour a new foundation, the volunteers worked several hours a night for about six months to complete the project.

“We worked, but we had fun,” Belcher said. “You make it fun. We had a steady stream of volunteers. Whoever showed up, we put them to work.”

Belcher developed the design to extend the exterior wall of the church building to house the new wheelchair ramp. The design was important, he said, because the church is a historic building.

“We could have just put a little room there that would have been less expensive, but it would have looked like a dog house,” Belcher said. “We had to make sure that we weren’t going to dramatically change the exterior of the building.”

The result is an addition that looks like it has been there all along, and provides a bright, welcoming place where BCC can serve its clients. In addition to the storage and serving space, the project created a new office, where BCC staff can interview clients, and a wheelchair accessible restroom. In addition, the organization will have room to run other programs from the renovated space.

The pantry is already operating in the new space. It is open from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Wednesdays. Information can be obtained by calling 469-7907.