LEWISTON — Orion Smith has hopes and dreams of someday finding employment as a landscaper. On Tuesday morning he began working on making those odds much better.

As a member of Looking Ahead Clubhouse in Lewiston he is getting an opportunity to gain valuable skills and adding to his resume. The clubhouse is part of a nationwide network and one of several operated by Kennebec Behavioral Health in Maine.

Clubhouse members are adults who experience mental illness. The staff members provide employment, educational and social opportunities with a goal of growth, more self-esteem and a sense of empowerment, with many striving to get back into the workforce or advanced schooling. For others, it is an opportunity to accomplish things that make them feel good about themselves while developing practical life skills.

Clubhouse Unit Coordinator Rick Pelton helped facilitate a new program where members volunteer to work alongside full-time workers at Lewiston Public Works.

There are about 130 members in the clubhouse with anywhere between 40 and 50 working at the clubhouse each day. For the first day of the new program in Lewiston, only a few members were working with city arborist Steve Murch and his crew at the Lewiston Armory on Central Avenue cleaning up several large trees that were felled.

After wheeling and dumping several loads of mulch, Orion Smith took a break under the shade of a tree and smiled at the work he and his co-workers had done.

“This is the town I grew up in, and the way the city is making it beautiful again, and me being part of it, makes me feel like I’m accomplishing something great,”  he said before wiping his brow and heading back to work.

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