Brunswick council shouldn’t micromanage homeless shelter
As a member of St Paul’s Episcopal Church, I coordinate a meal for the Tedford Shelter once a month, and over the many years have met people who suddenly or gradually found themselves without a place to call home. I try to imagine what it must be like not to know each night where you will sleep or if you will sleep, what it must be like to have people treat you with disdain and suspicion because you do not have anywhere to take a shower or wash clothes, what it must be like to not be interviewed for a job because you cannot put down a permanent address on the application. To me, it is a given that we should care for the most vulnerable among us. And so, I am proud that we have an organization like Tedford Housing which works not only to offer people emergency shelter, but also to help them find permanent housing and other supports.
I have witnessed how the shelter staff treat each person with dignity, and how they operate with professionalism, including firm rules and structure. The staff and the board understand that one size does not fit all and so they address multiple roots of the problem of being homeless. They have developed a comprehensive approach and a plan for a new shelter that will connect with the pathways to self-sufficiency and permanent housing that Tedford provides. I am concerned that the Town Council has become so invested in micromanaging the operations and limiting the location of such a shelter that the council’s actions will defeat all these good efforts to develop a project that, incidentally, does not depend on any taxpayer money. I urge my fellow citizens to attend the upcoming special Town Council meeting on April 8 and let your voices on behalf of those in need be heard.
Myrna Koonce,
Brunswick
Climate change solutions
Along with about 97 percent of climate scientists, we believe that climate change is real and is a current and future threat to Maine, our nation and the world. But we are not scientists and have an imperfect understanding of the issues and more importantly we don’t always know what steps should be taken to make a difference.
Along the way we have aligned ourselves with environmental organizations and policies that seem as if they will have impact and we have tried to keep ourselves informed and do our share.
Last week in Arrowsic we heard something that was new to us and while we still have many questions, it certainly seems that the Citizens’ Climate Lobby has an important solution.
They are clearly trying hard to get the word out about their national, bipartisan Carbon Dividend Act and they are willing to speak to any area group and to field all questions. Paul Perkins is presenting at the Bath City Hall on Thursday, April 18 at 6 p.m. and it is open to the public. We doubt that they are offering the only solution, but it surely sounds as if this can be an important piece of it. Bring your questions.
Sandra & Ole Jaeger,
Georgetown
Thank you, Mid Coast Hospital
On March 22, I had a hernia operation at Mid Coast Hospital. While operations are not pleasant experiences, Mid Coast Hospital did all they could to make it as easy as possible. Everyone from PRE-OP, registration and sign-in to preparing me for surgery, the nurses in the surgery suite and the surgery itself to recovery and post-surgery care and finally to release to going home was caringly taken of. I am very pleased with the hospital’s care for me and consideration they gave my wife. Whether I mentioned them or not, I thank them all.
Richard A. Bryant,
Brunswick
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