NEWS & UPDATES
New Faces, Promotions and Awards
NEW FACESJaime McLeod joined Preble Street as a communications manager. McLeod, of Lewiston, has 15 years of journalism and public relations experience. Gregory Perchik also joined Preble Street as teen services coordinator. He brings nine years of social work and health care experience to his position. He was previously a clinical manager for the Boston
Former Teen Center client helps kids in need
… Carson was homeless by the time she was 12 and began staying at Preble Street’s Lighthouse Teen Shelter in Portland. Even during that time, however, the guardian’s encouragement was enough to keep Carson from following others at the shelter who spent days aimlessly. Carson knew if she was going to be a lawyer she
Former homeless teen gives back
… By the time she was 13, Carson was living at the Lighthouse Teen Shelter in Portland, eating her meals at the Preble Street soup kitchen and then hurrying off to King Middle School "because my mother had dropped out and I wasn’t going to be like her." Then things got better … Read more
Portland Time and Temperature sign works for city
… Take the postcard-perfect sunset that served as a backdrop for "EAT OTTO." The message connoted the five-year anniversary for Otto’s Pizza, which may have raised a few eyebrows considering Otto’s is a for-profit business and normally would be ineligible for sign status. But that changed via what Bergeron calls a "work-around": In exchange for
Panhandling on the Rise
The shrewdness of panhandling on a median strip at a busy intersection is that it places the panhandler on the driver’s side of vehicles when they stop at red lights. Cities all over the country have seen a rise in recent years in roadside panhandlers, and Maine cities are no exception. Motorists in Portland have
Society Notebook: Strength against hunger
A record-breaking 400 people enjoyed an afternoon and evening of fancy sips and bites at Taste of the Nation at Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth. The annual fundraiser for Share Our Strength, with tickets priced at $125 for general admission and $200 for VIP, including a cocktail reception, raised more than $200,000 toward the
Our View: Permanent housing best way to help homeless
Organizations that serve the homeless in Augusta, Portland and York County have all recently lost their longtime, transformational leaders. The changeovers come as Maine’s homeless population has seemed to shrink slightly from the record peaks of the last few years, but it remains regrettably high. These three organizations, and others like them across the state,
Portland’s Oxford Street Shelter director departs for job in Boston
Josh O’Brien learned at an early age the importance of patience and compassion when trying to help people in desperate circumstances. And, as director of Portland’s largest homeless shelter for the past decade, he was known for his ability to see the humanity of the men who had nowhere else to go. Read more here.
Nutritious, fun lunches for children and teens
A red cooler sitting next to a new picnic table holds the lunches for anyone who drops by the old REAL School on High Street in Windham from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday. This past Monday, six kids dropped in for a free, nutritious lunch and conversation about the neighborhood. Liza Dalfonso
Maine task force aims to feed hungry students
AUGUSTA – Maine lawmakers, officials and advocates began to wrestle Monday with how to provide more students with access to free or affordably-priced meals, which they say is vital to helping low-income children succeed in school. More than 83,000 Maine students qualify for free-or-reduced-price meals, but the federally-funded programs are underutilized by both schools and
Maine Voices: Homeless veterans have an ally
On any given night in America, more than 63,000 veterans have nowhere to call home and sleep in shelters, on the streets, in abandoned buildings or in the woods. One of them – a man discharged from the Army in the 1980s – spent much of his adult life homeless, sleeping in his truck, in
Officials clear cluster of cardboard shelters in South Portland
SOUTH PORTLAND – For the transient people who lived behind Mallside Plaza, the hidden encampment offered the necessities: access to food, modest shelter, a stream for water, and the company of like-minded people. For city officials and the property owner, the camp was unhealthy, unsafe and an environmental threat to the Long Creek watershed. Read
