NORWAY — A new tenant is moving into the historic Yellow School House on Lower Main Street.

But don’t worry. The new tenant won’t do much exterior painting.

“It’s in the lease,” said AJ Alexander, president of The Table, a Harrison-based nonprofit that will use the 1854 building to address the drug addiction problem in the area, among other endeavors.

In early September, the Board of Selectmen voted to grant The Table a $1 per year lease.

The Table, under the umbrella of the Bolsters Mills United Methodist Church in Harrison and the Norway Grange, formed after the Deering Memorial Methodist Church in Paris closed in 2016. Alexander, the last presiding minister at Deering, said The Table formed as a way to keep some of the good work of the church going.

“What we tried to do was save some of the people’s intent from that church … I was able to try and keep some of that money in the community, at the Grange and at the Bolsters Mills church so that we could do something back out in the community of Norway and South Paris,” Alexander said.

And they have.

The Table hosts a free breakfast at the Norway Grange at 15 Whitman St. every Saturday, where they serve about 100 people. Every Friday night, they do free, chem-free activities at the Grange.

But, according to Alexander, the nonprofit saw the need to host smaller events such as Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and recovery groups. They had their eyes on expanding into a building on Main Street in Norway but it was eventually taken by the Advertiser Democrat.

When the schoolhouse popped up on the radar, it seemed like a great fit. They plan to make some renovations, mostly to the flooring, and then concentrate on achieving some goals.

“Our goal is to try to impact the addiction problem in the area, and to open up a safe, family-friendly place where people can come and just enjoy fellowship together,” Alexander said.

The vision is to open the space up to recovery groups and host some computers for those without email, and provide a space for the homeless to have a fixed address and mailbox. There’s room out back to park a trailer for some kayaks, and Alexander wants to host chem-free trips and activities.

Some other goals? Art lessons, a place to get coffee and talk, with an emphasis on chem-free living and recovery.

“We’ll be bursting out of here soon enough, and be looking for another building the town wants to rent us,” Alexander said. “We’d love to have a recovery house. We have to do it a little bit at a time; we can’t meet our dreams all at once. We rely on all volunteer work. We have high-in-the-sky ideas, but we don’t want to overwhelm ourselves.”

The schoolhouse seemed like a great place to start. And, according to Alexander, town officials seem to support the effort.

“The town seems to be really happy with it; that’s exciting,” Alexander said. “Any time we’ve gone to them, they’ve been more than willing to accept what we’re doing.”

Copy the Story Link