LEWISTON — After the fires in Lewiston the United Way had the official Lewiston Fire Relief Fund and received huge contributions. United Way met with Catholic Charities, Androscoggin County Emergency Management Agency, Lewiston General Assistance and workers at the Jubilee Center and decided to spend the money buying every family new furniture.

Everyone got a new mattress, box spring, bed, kitchen table and chairs, couch, end tables, lamps, dishes, silverware, pots and pans, microwave, etc. Lewiston Catholic Charities took on the responsibility of tracking down every family from the second fire and Erin Reed from Trinity Jubilee Center took on the first fire.

They found out the families’ new addresses, their availability and their needs and passed on the info to the folks from Portland Catholic Charities and ACEMA, who took charge of getting bids for bulk furniture purchases, finding and running a warehouse and arranging trucks and volunteers to do the deliveries every day.

Once the deliveries wrapped up and the warehouse was closed, the volunteers regrouped and decided that it was important to check in with families again. They wanted to see if there were other items that they needed, provide information on fire safety, renter’s insurance, etc. and offer referrals to mental health agencies for those struggling with trauma from the fires. Catholic Charities was able to bring someone from half time to full time to cover home visits for the families from the second fire, but Reed’s staff at the Jubilee Center was already maxed out and couldn’t take on the families from the first fire.

Someone remembered that CCI had offered to help in any way possible and called over to the office. Karen St. Pierre, a family support supervisor, agreed to do all of the home visits for the first fire families pro-bono. Reed went over the cases with her and she and her team visited more than 20 families in only a few weeks, collecting a list of items families were still in need of, referrals to a variety of other agencies and a chance for families to voice concerns and ask questions.

This was especially helpful for families from the first fire, as many were older or disabled and were reluctant to ask for things. ACEMA processed the surveys and set up a system to get people the extra items they asked for, such as vacuum cleaners, mops and kitchen knives.