LEWISTON — Behind the boxes, bags and piles of donations scattered throughout The Store Next Door’s new space in Longley School is the promise of a new, unique resource center for homeless youth and their families downtown.

For more than 20 years, the nonprofit organization has supported homeless teens in Lewiston schools with clothing, hygiene items, household goods and community resources. But as staff outfit The Store Next Door’s new home at 145 Birch St., they envision a place where students and their families can also shower, wash clothing, eat meals, receive educational support and meet with service providers.

Before, the organization occupied little more than a room in the basement of the high school on East Avenue. Now, it occupies a room at the high school and much of the lower level of Longley School, which includes space for an expanded store, a spacious lounge, offices, large bathroom facilities, a kitchen and dining room.

“It’s more going to be like a one-stop shop, so the students would be able to come down (and) get their needs addressed,” Jamie Caouette, director of The Store Next Door, said. “Clothing, food, personal hygiene products, they’d be able to get what they need . . . (and) address their educational needs. So if they’re not enrolled in school, figure out what their educational plan is and what would work best with them.”

There’s no place in downtown Lewiston where homeless youth and their families can get showers, she said.

Not all of these spaces will be ready when The Store Next Store opens to the community, tentatively by Christmas. Renovating the kitchen and dining area will happen in a later phase of renovations, Caouette said.

But moving thus far has been slow going. During the school day, Caouette has other responsibilities at the high school, leaving the organization’s other staff member, Joel Morse, at Longley to unpack and respond to daily requests from Lewiston schools.

The Store Next Door primarily served high school students in the past, but they’ve grown to support students across all of Lewiston’s schools.

The district is aware of about 130 students experiencing homelessness, but they’re finding more students every week. Just Wednesday alone, Morse said he identified six more students without a permanent residence.

And on Thursday, employees of The Store Next Door learned of a Lewiston elementary school student who had come to school wearing her mother’s clothing. An infestation of bed bugs had forced her family to leave everything behind.

Caouette and Morse packed a bag with appropriate sized clothing and dropped it off at her school.

“You never know what the day is going to bring,” Caouette said.

It’s a difficult workload for just two people to manage, but they’ll soon hire four new staff members and expand The Store Next Door’s operations during the day and into the evening hours.

Funding for these positions is only available for a year, however Caouette hopes the district will find a way to work it into the budget once the program is established and operating.

“The Store Next Door is growing, and the positions that we have available definitely need to be filled,” Morse said.

But until then, Caouette and Morse said they’re searching for community volunteers to help unpack and sort donations.

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