HOULTON, Maine — The Military Street Baptist Church has received a $10,000 grant from Harvard Pilgrim Health Care to fund a neighborhood program.
The church will apply the funding to its Adopt-a-Block of Aroostook program, which assists different neighborhoods and underprivileged members of the community.
The Adopt-a-Block of Aroostook acts as a coalition of different churches, businesses, health agencies, police and town government to help restore communities on a block-by-block basis.
“We wrote the grant last Thursday, and was told on Friday we had received it,” Randall Burns, senior pastor for the church, said. “It was incredible just to have that quick of a turnaround and to have gotten the full amount being offered.”
The stipulation of the grant calls for the money to go toward serving members of the community who are over 60 years old, a demographic which is particularly vulnerable to the effects of COVID-19. According to statistics from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, eight out of every 10 deaths from the virus in the country have been among those ages 65 and older.
With the money received from the grant, the church will be able to provide one free meal a week for everyone in that demographic.
“They are getting enough food, but more importantly it reminds individuals that they’re not invisible,” Burns said. “They’re not forgotten. They’re not completely alone. And that in the lockdown time, they’re not isolated.”
Recent changes put in place by Gov. Janet Mills have further strengthened social distancing guidelines, restricting movement and ordering people to stay home except to shop for necessities or work essential jobs. Burns has said any charitable work the church does will be in full compliance with the governor’s orders.
“People who are donating food to those who are vulnerable is an essential service,” he said. “We’re going to be in total compliance with the distancing stipulations that have been granted to us. We’re not over the law or under the law or out of the law.”
He also said that Carroll Conley of the Christian Civic League is planning to meet with Mills to clarify the role of faith-based services as essential businesses in the state.
Since March 23, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care has given more than $3 million in grants to community and non-profit organizations across New England, such as in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine.
