There have been a dozen or so individuals sitting on the concrete wall, ready to get free meals.
It was sunny and windy Tuesday on Silver Avenue in Waterville, the place the Night Sandwich Program within the basement of the Universalist Unitarian Church was welcoming patrons.
One particular person at a time entered to retrieve sandwiches, salad, soup and desserts, all made out of scratch, and so they obtained to select from amongst contemporary produce, together with potatoes, peppers, oranges and apples. There have been additionally baggage of walnuts, rice, beans and cans of meals.
“This place helps far more than individuals understand,” a girl advised me as she chosen objects to take house. “If it wasn’t for them, me and my husband would go with out.”
Terri Cashman, 42, visits the Night Sandwich Program on the Universalist Unitarian Church of Waterville, the place she will decide up meals for herself and her husband, who reside in a storage within the South Finish. Amy Calder/Morning Sentinel
She recognized herself as Terri Cashman, 42. She stated she and her husband, Zach Milliken, 41, reside in a storage within the South Finish that was provided to them not too long ago by a girl they didn’t even know.
“We have been residing in a tent final fall and final winter by the Two Cent Bridge, till Christmas,” she stated. “Then, we bounced right here and there and each place. The lady provided to allow us to reside in her storage totally free. We also have a mattress, and energy. She didn’t have to try this. She’s even made us meals. She’s gone out of her means to assist us.”
Residing in a storage is a luxurious in comparison with being out within the parts, she stated, recalling once they slept on the river financial institution and not using a tent for just a few days.
“We’ve obtained loads of blankets now. It’s gotten chilly the final couple of nights however we’ve gotten by way of.”
Cashman, a dark-haired lady with blue eyes and freckles, stated she typically goes to the Waterville Space Soup Kitchen on School Avenue to eat, however it’s fairly a stroll from the storage. She stated grew up in Waterville, grew to become pregnant at 16 and later, her child was taken away from her, as have been 4 extra youngsters she had afterward.
“I ended up having a tough time with anyone who had a drug downside,” she stated. “I misplaced every part.”
Cashman stated she is disabled and cited a protracted record of her diagnoses, together with consideration deficit hyperactivity dysfunction, consideration deficit dysfunction, publish traumatic stress dysfunction, oppositional defiant dysfunction and bipolar dysfunction. She doesn’t have a physician, nevertheless.
“I’ve MaineCare, however proper now it’s laborious to search out an precise physician that takes MaineCare,” she stated. “I feel I’ve referred to as 50 locations and ‘Nope, not proper now — I’ll name you when there’s a gap.’ It’s laborious since you need them that can assist you get on remedy to really feel higher.”
I requested how she manages, not having wanted remedy.
“My husband helps me,” she stated. “He doesn’t work. He broke his again a yr in the past in a automotive accident, on his first day of working for a contactor.”
Cashman stated she will get a month-to-month $903 Social Safety incapacity revenue verify, however it’s not sufficient to get an condo, which usually is $800-plus a month. She has all the time had her personal place, and that is the primary time she has been homeless, she stated.
“Proper now, they need first and final month’s hire and a safety deposit and who can afford that? As a result of I can’t. It’s about $3,000.”
Her greatest want, she stated, is to be housed.
“To have our personal place the place no person can throw us out,” she stated. “I fear daily whether or not we’re going to get tossed out onto the road. It’s the scariest factor on the earth.”
The volunteers on the Night Sandwich Program assist make life simpler, she stated. This system is open to patrons from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesdays and Fridays,
“They’re depraved candy. They don’t decide us, they don’t deal with us like crap.”
Nicholas Hood, 40, has been a volunteer there for 3 years. Hood makes the salads and desserts.
Nicholas Hood, left, a volunteer for the Night Sandwich Program, reaches for a cup as volunteer Ann Paradis and Larry Dickey, this system’s assistant director, look on. Amy Calder/Morning Sentinel
“I’ve been homeless myself, 5 instances, so it’s good to have the ability to give again,” he stated.
Ann Paradis, 81, a 10-year volunteer, enjoys making the sandwiches and greeting individuals, she stated.
“It makes me so humble and grateful to have the ability to assist. You by no means know while you is perhaps on the opposite aspect of the aisle.”
Larry Dickey, 83, this system’s assistant director, has been there 14 years, working with director Maililani Bailey. When he was younger he labored as a cook dinner, first at a logging camp, then for log drivers on the Kennebec River and at last, for 20 years at a restaurant. When he retired, he began volunteering on the sandwich program, which was based in 1990. He makes the soup, which on Tuesday was hen with greens.
“I actually take pleasure in this,” he stated. “I like seeing the individuals come, and so they can take what they want, you already know. We attempt to be good to all of them.”
Amy Calder has been a Morning Sentinel reporter 35 years. Her columns seem right here Saturdays. She is the writer of the e-book, “Consolation is an Previous Barn,” a set of her curated columns, printed in 2023 by Islandport Press. She could also be reached at acalder@centralmaine.com. For earlier Reporting Apart columns, go to centralmaine.com
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