Senior Corps Of Retired Executives (SCORE) recognized Welcome To Housing Home Goods Bank, Inc. (WTH) this year as the “Successful Non-Profit of the Year” in the State of Maine. The Northern Maine Chapter of SCORE was also recognized as the NATIONAL “Chapter of the Year.” Chris Olsen the Founder and Board of Trustees President says that’s an amazing recognition as the Northern Maine Chapter only has 14 Mentors, one of them being Dennis Wint who is the Mentor for WTH.
Welcome To Housing, (a 100-percent volunteer driven nonprofit) is celebrating their 15th Anniversary on October 9th. Also on October 9th, the Heart of Maine United Way is hosting a Volunteer Fair at their venue called “The Hub” 700 Mount Hope Avenue, Suite 101 in Bangor. The United Way is inviting potential volunteers from businesses and organizations as well as individuals to learn about opportunities in the area.

Olsen says their Board of Trustees are very interested as they’re working to increase their numbers for the Board as well as Teams/Committees for Marketing, Community Outreach, Fundraising, Governance along with adding more volunteers to help oversee their warehouse in Old Town.
Lastly, Welcome To Housing has announced what they plan to become their “Signature/Annual” event on Saturday-Sunday, October 17th-18th. The event is called the “Count Our Blessings Camp-In.” The overnight event is being held in the Turf Room at the Old Town-Orono YMCA. The Family-Friendly event will include games, prizes, music, fun contests, a silent auction, a Stone Soup Story and Activity along with all kinds of food, including a “challenge” from the YMCA’s Chef Josh Heikkinen. Chair of the event Lisa Maxcy and Olsen say the event will be a time to have fun as well as “Reflect.” Like a “Moment of Silence” the event will ask Happy Campers to take one night and realize people Welcome To Housing helps generally start out without many things most people take for granted, including a bed, hence the event title, “Count Our Blessings Camp-In.”

Live drop-ins will be on social media from Tik Tok to Facebook with Olsen who became a podcaster helping promote nonprofits and people making a positive change. The podcast can be found on YouTube and Spotify, called People, Places and Parables.

Sponsors for the event include: The Old Town-Orono YMCA, Machias Savings Bank, Tyler Technologies, Sargent Corporation, Bangor Savings Bank and the Bangor UPS Store.  For more information email: welcometohousing@gmail.com and ask for a Camp-In folder to sign up your "Happy Campers." $25 entry per person and $50 per family. Each Camper will have their name entered into prize drawings throughout the event and their name will be added again for each $25 over and above the initial entry.