PRESQUE ISLE — Homeless Services of Aroostook has supplied 129,150 meals to their residents over the last five years. Keeping food on hand to supply these much needed meals is a challenge, but Healthy Aroostook just made things easier.
Healthy Aroostook, a local Healthy Maine Partnership and a program of Aroostook County Action Program, Inc. (ACAP), with a grant provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, EMHS and the Partnership to Improve Community Health, has provided two freezers for the shelter in Presque Isle.
“We are delighted to help Homeless Services of Aroostook,” stated Dawn Roberts, ACAP/Healthy Aroostook community education specialist. “The need to store food for the over 800 people that the shelter has served over the last five years is imperative to the daily operation of the shelter.”
Stephen Eyler, executive director of Homeless Services, explained, “When you provide all the meals every day for over 150 family members staying at our emergency shelter every year, it’s not hard to understand why food management is a high priority for us. There are times when we receive large quantities of food all at once, and freezer storage is a constant challenge where every square inch is prime real estate.
“The two new upright freezers donated to us from ACAP/Healthy Aroostook are going to make life much easier, not only with more space available for food received, but also providing us the means of freezing more prepared food to stretch our food dollars. We’re very grateful to ACAP/Healthy Aroostook for their generosity with helping us this way,” Eyler added.
“As a community coalition, our mission is to improve the health and well-being of Aroostook County citizens through collaborative community action. We are so happy to have been able to help our friends and neighbors in need with this collaborative project,” stated Carol Bell, Project Manager for Healthy Aroostook.
Homeless Services of Aroostook is the only emergency homeless shelter for the general public in Aroostook County — geographically the largest County east of the Mississippi and approximately the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined, serving a population count of around 72,000 (from the 2010 census). The shelter, which opened in 1984, has a 43 bed capacity that serves families as well as individuals who are in need of emergency shelter. In addition to a warm place to sleep, shelter residents have access to hot showers, three meals a day and a laundry facility.
All shelter residents have a case manager who works with every individual and household to establish a plan, providing a road map back to independent living. The case manager will advocate for and connect shelter residents to the programs and services available to them to meet their specific needs. Compassionate staff make every effort to decrease the stress of homelessness by checking in new clients professionally, taking time to review rules and policies, and answering any questions while ensuring confidentiality at all times.
