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Shelter
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Food
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Education
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Work
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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 college-level courses, including the Rural Education Program (REP) and University of Maine Interactive Television courses (ITV).
- A craft store featuring homemade items from 250 Maine residents, and handmade items from Central America.
- Pottery studio, woodworking shop, weaving studio, leather shop, a small museum and a chapel.
- A Garden program, Greenhouse and Farmer's Market.
- A Free Medical Clinic.
- Balsam Christmas Wreaths: wholesale, retail, mail order and online.
- A publication department, including the quarterly newsletter: This Time.
- Employment in lumber mill, shingle mill, garage and house construction.
- A land trust - 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 so far.
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H.O.M.E.