BANGOR – Hollywood Slots stepped forward recently to help the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter and those it serves. In December, general manager Jon Johnson, assistant general manager Steve Lambert and marketing and public relations manager Amy Kenney met with the board and staff of the shelter to identify needs they could fill. What resulted was a decision to renovate the shelter’s kitchen.

With professional coordination provided by John Karnes, the shelter has experienced an “extreme kitchen makeover.”

Shelter Executive Director, Dennis Marble said, “They provided $9,000 in order to replace both old stoves with new gas ranges; to throw out two old and inefficient freezers and purchase new, energy-star chest models; rip up the old floor and lay a new one with materials that will be waterproof and much easier to keep clean; install a new, commercial grade sink; replace several shelving and counter units with new, stainless steel surfaces; and fabricate and install additional shelving and storage areas.”

Marble explained that the donated funds were spent locally, with appliances purchased from a downtown business.

Sandy Cyrus of Orono has volunteered to make lunch every Tuesday for six years.

With her friends Surya Mitchell and Paul Bolduc, who has accompanied Cyrus for the last four years, Cyrus recently got the chance to cook in the new kitchen.

“The difference between the old and the new is that everything works. You’re not getting hemmed in by the limitations of broken equipment,” Cyrus said, “and you can be more creative in your cooking. It’s like, ‘Can we cook this, too? Yeah! There’s plenty of room!'”

On the last Tuesday of February, Cyrus and her crew fed more than 35 people.

Marble said the shelter provides more than 35,000 meals a year without paid kitchen staff or even a food budget, except for occasional purchases of milk, margarine and powdered drink mixes.

“It’s the community that keeps this going,” he said. “The partnership of volunteers and local businesses, like this one between Sandy and her crew, with Hollywood Slots, exemplifies how the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter is able to provide the support and services that it does.”

“We simply want to be a good neighbor,” said Amy Kenney. “We work hard for the success of our company and our employees, but being a corporate citizen means you look a little deeper at the community in which you earn your livelihood. Homelessness is something worth our attention and support.”