From its start as a small social work agency, Preble Street has been guided by its mission to provide accessible barrier-free services to empower people experiencing problems with homelessness, hunger, and poverty, and to advocate for solutions to these problems.
50 years later, Preble Street is a statewide organization providing critical services and care that impact thousands of our most vulnerable Mainers each year. In addition to the largest direct service emergency food program in northern New England, Preble Street operates low-barrier programs throughout Maine providing 24/365 services for individuals and families, including homeless youth, women, Veterans, and survivors of human trafficking.
50 years later, Preble Street is a statewide organization providing critical services and care that impact thousands of our most vulnerable Mainers each year. In addition to the largest direct service emergency food program in northern New England, Preble Street operates low-barrier programs throughout Maine providing 24/365 services for individuals and families, including homeless youth, women, Veterans, and survivors of human trafficking.We don’t know what the future holds, but Preble Street will be here to provide a voice for marginalized and underserved populations. To advocate for and invest in solutions. To provide people not only with food, clothing, and shelter, but also with dignity and compassion. To make Maine a just place for every person who lives here.
This is what compassion in action means to us.
Thank you for being here with us; the past 50 years would not have been possible without the support and love of our community.
Looking to commemorate 50 years of Preble Street with us? Here are some ways you can be involved!
Besides the 50th anniversary, several other Preble Street programs will be marking important milestones in 2025:
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30 years
Homeless Voices for Justice (HVJ) was founded in 1995. HVJ is a grassroots, social change organization that works with, and on behalf of, people with lived experience of homelessness and poverty.
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20 years
Logan Place, Maine’s first Site-based Housing First building for people experiencing chronic homelessness, opened.
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15 years
Florence House - shelter and Site-based Housing First for women – opens its doors. Operating 24 hours a day and 365 days of the year, Florence House provides a wide range of low-barrier support services to homeless women.
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5 years
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Preble Street recognized that it could not safely provide food and services to people in crowded shelters and soup kitchens. The Street Outreach Collaborative was created to provide social work services and meals every day on a mobile basis at various stops around Portland.
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5 years
As shelters decreased the number of beds to keep people safe during the pandemic, the Rapid Re-Housing program was launched to move more people from homelessness to permanent housing.
In 2025, Preble Street celebrates 50 years of compassion in action; we thank you for being part of our journey and our future. Keep checking this page throughout the year to learn more about our history, 50th anniversary events, stories from the past, present, and future and more.
Keep learning about Preble Street and our history
Compassion in action: Preble Street at 50
“If you can’t get what you need, we’re here,” was the message Joe Kreisler wanted people experiencing poverty to hear when he founded High Street Resource Center (the organization that evolved into Preble Street) in 1975. The grand opening ofFlorence House Sign for the original High Street Resource Center Mark Swann, Bruce Logan, and Joe Kreisler
Housing First: A Solution to Homelessness
Steve “Boomer” Littlefield is 67 years old. For 45 of those years, he experienced chronic homelessness and alcohol use disorder, sleeping mostly outside after some bad experiences in shelters. He survived the frigid Maine winters and nights thanks to his resourcefulness and a sleeping bag that protected him down to -65 degrees. He and hisfriends
The Impact of Social Work
“In my time working here, I’ve been able to provide people with many things. I’ve given people vouchers, I’ve helped people move into apartments, I’ve helped somebody repair their vehicle. I’ve provided all of these material things. But time and time again, when people talk to me about what was most important to them, it’s been
