LEWISTON — Although more than a week has passed since the first apartment buildings burned in Lewiston, dozens of victims still have nowhere to go.
At the Red Cross shelter at Lewiston High School, evening shelter manager Michele Danois confirmed the school was housing about 50 fire victims.
Although those displaced people are working with the city to find homes, the process is slow. “The problem is finding appropriate apartments, not something that’s going to fall down in a couple months,” Danois said.
Tuesday’s dinner was donated by Shaw’s, and Tim Hortons kept the weary fueled up on coffee and drinks. For those staying at LHS, however, Tuesday was to be their last night in the gym.
The Red Cross on Wednesday will pack up the fire victims and move them to the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.
Danois spoke admirably of the shelter’s residents, all from the Somali community. Speaking of how they came here and started over, only to begin again with a positive attitude, Danois said, “Those who have the least are jumping up to help the most.”
As donations flow through the YWCA of Central Maine, the challenge of sorting, culling the useful from the frivolous, and distributing is keeping staff and volunteers on their toes.
Lt. Jason Brake of the Salvation Army stacked boxes Tuesday evening as children played among donated items in a makeshift warehouse.
Brake said donations have many challenges, from size issues to usefulness. “Nobody’s interested in a winter coat when summer’s coming,” Brake said. “Someone even dropped off skis.”
Brake is working with YWCA Executive Director Kathy Durgin-Leighton on how the excess donations would best be utilized, with food going to Trinity Jubilee Center, which offers free meals, and excess toiletries sent to Hope Haven Mission, a homeless shelter.
Walking among stacks of clothing, shoes and home goods in a room that resembled a small department store, Durgin-Leighton said she is encouraging families to pick up items. But the YWCA will store items for families until they can find housing, she said.
Almost every nook of the building has been made into storage or staging for donated items. In one room, toiletries were sorted and bagged on one side while diapers dominated the shelves on the other.
In another room, staff from Central Maine Medical Center had sorted kitchen basics into boxes, creating kitchens in a box for families to grab and go.
Citing Marden’s, Big Lots and Kmart for their generosity, she said various large donations have rolled in from each, including 60 new pillows and boxes of new towels. Backpacks were also prepared with donations for students returning to school this week.
She also mentioned one donor, who wished to remain anonymous, who initially brought a small bag of items and, after seeing the victims and their level of need, later returned with 20 $100 Kohl’s gift cards.
The only time Durgin-Leighton had to reach beyond the mountain of donations was when a child walked in without shoes on his feet. She said the child needed a size they didn’t have, “so we put them in my car and drove to Olympia” to buy him some shoes.
Salvation Army
Lt. Jason Brake of the Salvation Army said the facility at 67 Park St. has nonperishable food and hygiene items available for fire victims with new housing.
Red Cross
The Lewiston YWCA will hold a yard sale from 8 a.m. to noon Friday, Executive Director Kathy Durgin-Leighton said Tuesday. Unused donated items will be sold, with all proceeds going to fire victims. Available bags can be filled for $2.
How to help
We’re working on compiling a list of ways you can help victims. Learn more how you can help.
More coverage of the Lewiston fires:
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