NSB Donates $25,000 to Trinity Jubilee Center’s New Facility Project in Lewiston

LEWISTON—Norway Savings Bank team members made a special visit to 123 Bates Street in Lewiston on June 5 to check out the promise and possibility being constructed on the site in the form of a new facility for the Trinity Jubilee Center. The group presented Erin Reed, Executive Director of the Center, with a check for $25,000, part of a multi-year commitment by the bank towards one of the most essential support service organizations in the state (picture, caption below).

“Through nutrition services, job and life coaching, medical care, and warm welcomes, the Trinity Jubilee Center in Lewiston has offered support to tens of thousands of people over the past three decades,” said Dan Walsh, President and CEO of Norway Savings Bank. “In a single day, hundreds of people receive a free meal, hundreds of families gain access to groceries, unhoused individuals are provided with coats and gloves, and others are helped as they apply for jobs. The center has provided hope, empowerment, and a better life to visitors in the process.”

Currently housed in the basement of the Trinity Episcopal Church on Spruce Street, a soup kitchen, food pantry, day shelter, resource center, immigrant integration program, and other services are open to anyone in need to help stabilize and improve their lives. The new facility will more than quadruple the size and space for the Center, enabling more efficient service through the additions of a walk-in refrigerator and freezer, showers, and laundry facilities.

“The new center will also offer a 1,200 square-foot day shelter, twice the size of our current shelter, a fully-equipped doctor’s office, a health access center, a client services office, a larger kitchen, and an indoor food distribution area,” said Erin Reed, Executive Director of the Trinity Jubilee Center. “It will be a new home that is actually designed for service.”

Fittingly, the capital campaign raising money for the ongoing construction is entitled “Hope Starts Here” and is almost at its goal of just over $5 million.

“We are so grateful to Norway Savings Bank and all of our donors for making this possible and for believing in our mission, our community, and our neighbors,” said Reed. “Contributions from Norway Savings and other institutional donors are quite literally strengthening the fabric of our community.”

“We’re so thankful for local businesses and organizations that are moved to help. Their kindness brings smiles and relief to people in need and truly makes a difference that will be felt for generations to come,”  said Chris Abbruzzese, the chair of the center’s Board of Directors.

The new facility is expected to open its doors by November. In the interim, the current Center is open six days a week:

• Soup kitchen (Mondays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.);
• Day shelter, resource program, and immigrant integration program (Mondays through Saturdays from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.);
• Food pantry (Wednesdays from 7:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.);
• Medical clinic (Wednesdays from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.).

To learn more about the Center, the “Hope Starts Here” campaign, the new facility, or the many ways you can offer support, visit www.trinityjubileecenter.org.

Pictured (L to R): Ann Landry, Trinity Jubilee Center; Lin Dehetre, NSB Market Manager VP; Darci Hamm, NSB Chief Operating Officer EVP; Ian Pullen, NSB Commercial Loan Officer VP; Rick Flagg, NSB Senior Commercial Banking Officer EVP; Erin Reed, Executive Director, Trinity Jubilee Center.