ELLSWORTH, Maine (WABI) - The Families First Community Center started five years ago as a non-profit whose mission is to break the cycle of homelessness by helping families with children get the skills they need to gain self-sufficiency.
Part of that mission is offering transitional housing for families who are homeless, and that housing is almost ready.
“We are weeks away from opening the house and welcoming six families with children,” said Terri Oullette, the Board President at the soon to be open Families First Community Center.
It’s been a long time in the making.
“The construction alone has been two years, and I’ve been involved with that since the beginning. So yeah, being this close to the end is very exciting.”
The house on North Street has six apartments, for families in Hancock County without homes who have children. According to Families First Housing & Program Director Maureen Bartley, the need has never been greater.
“There are people who are living in hotels, living in vehicles that could easily fill out paperwork and transfer to us.
The Families First Community Center is more than just a place for families in need to keep warm this winter. It’s a transitional and educational facility. And it’s the only one of its kind in Hancock County.
“The focus is to teach life skills,” Oullette said. “And to support people so when they leave, they’ll be able to be self sufficient.”
“We’re going to ask that participants in our program develop a life plan,” added Bartley. “It’s more than giving someone a place to live and a food stamp card. It’s teaching them how to budget that food stamp card, clean their house, so that when they leave us, they won’t have to go back to a shelter, and hopefully that door will close.”
Until then, Ouellette is looking toward the Families First Center’s doors being open, helping those who need it most.
“That is hard to talk about without actually getting emotional,” she said, “Because that’s really what it’s all about. It’s gonna be awesome.”
The Families First Community Center is still taking referrals for when the facility opens. For more information, visit www.familiesfirstellsworth.org.
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December 08, 2020 at 05:36AM
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Families First Community Center nearly complete - WABI
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