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UID:7599@bluehillpeninsula.org
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260429T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260429T203000
DTSTAMP:20260409T020247Z
URL:https://bluehillpeninsula.org/events/building-hope-ending-homelessness
 -in-maine-free-film-screening/
SUMMARY:BUILDING HOPE:  Ending Homelessness in Maine FREE Film screening
DESCRIPTION:BUILDING HOPE: Ending Homelessness in Maine is a free film with
  a in person live panel discussion moderated by film producer Melody Lewis
 -Kane and introduced by film director Richard Kane.  The panel consists of
 :  Donna Kelley\, President and CEO of Waldo Community Action Partners\; A
 nne Schroth\, Executive Director of Healthy Peninsula\; and Sharon Catus\,
  Senior Major Gift Officer\, Northern Light Health Foundation.\n\nBUILDING
  HOPE tells audiences that there is hope to ending the suffering of homele
 ssness. The film begins with the story of Aneyva\, a 30-year old woman wit
 h two children\, a former early childhood educator with two college degree
 s. The pandemic caused her to lose her job\, her home\, and her children a
 nd she now lives in Bangor’s Tent City\, homeless. This encampment has b
 een torn down every December for the past three years!\n\nAmelia\, an empl
 oyed\, hard working contractor\, suffered the trauma of domestic violence 
 leading to her loss of housing.  After two years of homelessness with her 
 high school-aged daughter\, she found the help of Homeworthy (formerly the
  Knox County Homeless Coalition) and now has a home\, continues in her job
 \, and has re-started her apothecary business.\n\nJames\, whose grandmothe
 r found him a paper route\, was making $100/week.  His friends selling coc
 aine were making $500/day. The money was enticing. So he went to work deli
 vering drugs which led him to being “popped by the cops”.  He spent ne
 arly 25 years in prison. Homeless when released he found help with a Housi
 ng Navigator from Bangor Area Homeless Shelter. Now\, with the help of a g
 overnment Section 8 voucher\, he has an apartment in Bangor owned by Commu
 nity Housing of Maine (CHOM) and a job at Chipotle.\n\nBUILDING HOPE explo
 res these stories and more of those caught in the daily crisis of homeless
 ness. With the help of leading state advocates\, many have risen above the
 ir circumstances to find housing and jobs and are becoming productive memb
 ers of society.  Others\, due to a shortage of affordable housing\, povert
 y\, mental illness and substance use disorder\, have yet to succeed.\n\nTo
 day\, due to the virtual disapperance of federally funded (HUD) housing vo
 uchers the situation is even more dire.  The film explores the whys and ho
 ws our society can heal the suffering. Maine’s former Speaker of the Hou
 se Rachel Talbot Ross talks about her own vulnerabilities growing up\, and
 \, with the $30 million dollars that she has led the state legislature to 
 invest in affordable housing\, there is some hope. Maine’s Independent U
 .S. Senator Angus King addresses the inadequacies of our minimum wage and 
 the government tax incentive bills he co-sponsors to give confidence to de
 velopers to create affordable housing and emergency shelters.  Developer K
 evin Bunker\, the force behind building Portland’s new Homeless Services
  Center and Asylum Seekers Center\, talks about the root causes of inequal
 ity in our system. Preble Street’s director\, Mark Swann\, laments over 
 Portland’s sweeps of encampments\, yet his hope “springs eternal.”  
 Community Housing of Maine’s director\, Cullen Ryan\, makes crystal clea
 r the damage that is done both to individuals without housing and to our s
 ociety as a whole\, and yet\, “there is hope”.\n\nA “voice from pove
 rty”\, Dr. Donna Beegle\, closes the film with the plea: “There’s no
 thing that matches making a difference for your fellow human beings. … L
 et me use what’s in my hands … to see if I can’t leave you in a bett
 er place.”\n\nWe can all make a difference.  There is hope. \n
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://bluehillpeninsula.org/wp-content/uploads
 /2026/04/Im-Hungry-copy.png
LOCATION:Blue Hill Public Library\, 5 Parker Point Rd\, Blue Hill\, ME\, 04
 614\, United States
GEO:44.4118843;-68.5900689
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=5 Parker Point Rd\, Blue Hi
 ll\, ME\, 04614\, United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=Blue Hill Publi
 c Library:geo:44.4118843,-68.5900689
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