FARMINGTON — The Fairbanks Union Presbyterian Church is pleased to announce the recent purchase of the Mary [Ellie] McGrath property, located at 587 Fairbanks Rd., on the west side of the Church’s parking lot. We are very excited with this addition to our property. In addition to potential future use as a ‘guest’ house for visiting ministers, this facility will also become the ‘home’ of the North Parish Housing Ministry [NPHM].

The NPHM is a mission program currently based in the basement of the Fairbanks Church, whose goal is to help homeowners in the greater Farmington area do home repairs that they may not otherwise be able to afford to do. In simple terms, our primary goal is to help senior citizens and other economically challenged families remain in their homes – and do so safely, warm and dry as well.

This property, in addition to the 2.58 acres, contains a small house of approximately 1250 sq. ft., plus a 30’ x 44’ barn and a 16’ x 30’ shed. The barn and shed will be used to store the vehicles, equipment and supplies utilized by the housing ministry during the summer months, when visiting work teams from churches from nearby states come to Maine for a mission trip. Most teams are comprised of the senior high youth group, along with adult leaders, some of whom have the technical skills to lead the team in doing housing repairs.

Typical home repairs are installing disability ramps, repairing decks and stairs, repairing/replacing small roofs, replacing windows and doors, doing exterior/interior painting, and other minor carpentry to repair water damaged floors and walls.

The Fairbanks Union Presbyterian Church is a member of Mission at the Eastward [MATE – www.missionattheeastward.org], joining six other small Presbyterian Churches in western Maine in this Mission. In addition to the NPHM ministry, MATE also oversees the Camp at the Eastward [CATE] located in Starks, Maine. CATE has a 1-week Chickadee Day Camp for grades K thru 3; and four overnight week-long camp programs: Bantam Camp [grades 3-5], Junior Camp [grades 5-7], Junior High Camp [grades 7-9] and Senior High Camp [grades 9-12]. For more details on this ministry, go to the camp website if you have internet access, or call Amber Sturtevant at 207-256-4581.

MATE also has a third ministry – a South Africa Partnership [SAP] – that is active in mission work in a rural area in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The three ministries [NPHM, CATE and SAP] and all seven of the MATE churches can all be accessed through the MATE website.

For those of you who do not know about us, we are located at 583 Fairbanks Rd., otherwise known as Route 4. The church is situated .1 mile west of the junction of Routes 4 and 27, where Route 27 splits off north towards Kingfield. We are always eager to welcome guests – why not stop in during the summer months and check us out!

Submitted by Cynthia Kemble