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H.O.M.E. Inc.

Entrepreneur: Lucy Poulin

Address:
PO Box 10
Orland, ME 04472

Telephone:(207) 469-7961
FAX:(207) 469-1023

Email: linus@homecoop.net
Web Site:http://www.homecoop.net

Grant Amount:$87,000

Mission Statement

To help those in need, and to help in a way such that a community will benefit rather than just the individual, and to help in ways that work to overcome oppression.

Purpose of Grant

H.O.M.E. has been working for over thirty years to help under-privileged individuals in rural Downeast Maine. At the H.O.M.E. headquarters in Orland, there is a lumber mill, shingle mill, woodworking shop and craft shop as well as a craft store. In season, H.O.M.E. makes and ships thousand of Christmas wreaths. On its woodlots, H.O.M.E. workers cut lumber to process through its mills. The lumber is incorporated into houses that are sold to economically disadvantaged individuals who are able to afford them because the savings that H.O.M.E. makes through producing the lumber is passed on to the purchasers.

The Great Bay grant allowed H.O.M.E. to purchase a wood planer for the woodworking shop to enable H.O.M.E. to utilize wood cut on H.O.M.E.'s property, milled in H.O.M.E.'s mill, and to be incorporated in houses and furniture built by H.O.M.E. The funds were also used to obtain safety equipment, repair existing equipment and hire additional staff with woodworking and carpentry experience to train and supervise personnel.

 

Additional Information 

H.O.M.E. Inc., established in 1970 as a craft cooperative, is a multi-faceted organization involved in economic reconstruction and social rehabilitation. In its 30+ years of existence, it has grown from the single retail store where home crafters could sell their goods into a small community offering jobs, food, education, temporary shelter and home ownership to people and families in need.

H.O.M.E. has seen from its beginning days that although the ownership of a home is of fundamental importance to a family, other services are needed to ensure family stability and foster self-esteem. In response to these needs, its activities have grown to include:

• Five shelters for the homeless, and a social outreach program that touches the lives of several hundred persons annually.
• A food bank, a soup kitchen, a recovery barn and thrift store (clothes and household goods) and free firewood for those who need it.
• A learning center which includes a day-care center, literacy instruction, GED preparation, craft training, computer training and desktop publishing.
• A craft store featuring homemade items from more than 200 Maine residents, and handmade items from our Sister Emmaus Community in Guatemala.
• Pottery studio, woodworking shop, weaving studio, leather shop, a small museum and a chapel.
• Garden program, Greenhouse and Farmer's Market.
• Free Medical Clinic.
• Balsam Christmas Wreaths: wholesale, retail and mail order.
• The Covenant Community Land Trust, and a house building program in which low-income families participate in the construction of their new homes. Twenty-four houses have been built to date.