NORWAY — As a coalition to fight homelessness and help the needy grows, several members have called for a tighter definition of how the group will function.
The newly-formed Oxford County Community Resource Coalition, which meets monthly in the basement of Christ Episcopal Church in Norway, formed as a means to direct people who have fallen on hard times to resources that can help.
Kathy Richardson of the Rotary Club said Thursday that there have been a lot of good ideas exchanged at recent meetings, but the coalition hasn’t committed to many of them. “I haven’t heard a cohesive thing,” she said.
Attendees agreed to break into groups at the next meeting to discuss how the coalition will move forward.
One thing they don’t want, according to Anne Stanley, rector at the Episcopal Church in Norway and the group’s foremost organizer, is to create an agency. “We’re connecting people with resources,” she said.
At past meetings, the group agreed to create a resource manual, which is being written by an intern at Rumford Group Homes. Its purpose is to help connect people with resources.
The coalition has also received a grant from the Episcopal Diocese of Maine to buy a laptop computer and other equipment for a resource center where a volunteer can help people apply for aid. The computer even comes with an electronic signature capture pad so forms can be signed and submitted online.
In the short term, the coalition has proposed setting up the resource center in the church basement, which also hosts the Oxford Hills Food Pantry. There has been discussion of working in different locations on different days to reach people without access to transportation.
On Thursday, attendees participated in a video chat with Margaret Fogarty of the American Friends Service Committee on work she has done in homeless services in Concord, N.H.
Fogarty described the combined work of a local homeless shelter with other groups in the area to create a concentrated response to poverty. Included in the work is a system of making sure people aren’t gaming the system. Assistance is given in the form of checks to businesses owed, such as utility companies, rather than paying people cash. A database keeps track of who is receiving help and how much.
Some people receiving help are doing volunteer work, Fogarty said, and former recipients of aid who are back on their feet are giving back by helping the local coalition.
The Oxford County Community Resource Coalition will meet at 2 p.m. on April 28 in the basement of Christ Episcopal Church.
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