Every first Saturday after Labor Day since 2002, 100 or so Midcoast Maine people have dedicated that day to participate in the Community Housing Improvement Project’s Community Cares Day.
This year, on Saturday, Sept. 7, people will fill the meeting room at the Newcastle Second Congregational Church between 7:30 and 8 a.m. to receive their work assignments, a T-shirt, and some tasty food. The room will spill over with energy and good cheer. They then will go with their assigned team to their work assignment somewhere between Waldoboro and South Bristol.
These teams may help build a ramp, repair a floor, install skirting on a mobile home, or do one of many other jobs that will help make that home safer, warmer, or drier for this year’s winter. These work teams will be made up of both genders, a variety of ages, and people who are not particularly skilled, are semiskilled, or are skilled. Each team will be led by a crew leader who will guide the process. About 10 to a dozen homes will be worked on.
At the end of the work day, everyone is invited back to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Newcastle for some great food and storytelling from the day’s experiences.
This extraordinary day happens because of the work of the CHIP Inc. Community Cares Day planning team and especially the work and coordination of Brittany Gill, CHIP’s coordinator.
Whether one has participated before or not, everyone invited to be part of this year’s Community Cares Day effort. All kinds of help is needed. First, crew leaders and many workers are needed. Second, people are needed to prepare food, especially lunch for the workers. Third, child care providers are needed to care for the young children of some of the volunteers. Finally, financial donors are especially needed to help cover the cost of materials.
To help make this special day a huge success, one can volunteer or get more information by contacting Kay Whitner at 339-364-5710 or send an email to her at transformfault@aol.com. For more information about the work of CHIP, go to chipinc.org. Donations to help make this day happen can be sent to: CHIP Inc., P.O. Box 6, Newcastle, ME, 04553.
