ELLSWORTH — H.O.M.E., Inc. staff and volunteers will be braving the cold outside of Shaw’s supermarket in Ellsworth on Saturday, Jan. 18 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to help raise money in support of H.O.M.E.’s shelter and outreach programming and to increase awareness regarding homelessness in Maine. H.O.M.E. is a nonprofit in Orland that provides basic needs programming to people experiencing homelessness or living on a low-income.
This fundraiser is being held outside in January to bring attention to the Point-in Time Count. The Point-in-Time Count is an annual survey conducted in the United States to count sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness on a single night in January to assess housing status and needs. The 2025 PIT Count will occur on Jan. 22. In 2024 2,695 individuals in Maine were experiencing homelessness with 273 of those being unsheltered.
H.O.M.E. Program Coordinator Julie Ream encourages the public to stop in to donate and learn more about how they are combatting homelessness in Maine, “We are always pleased with monetary donations and we will have our H.O.M.E. van there as well to collect donations of warm coats, boots, hats, mittens, and gloves. Anything that will help people stay warm through these hard Maine winters.