WOODSTOCK — Tim Buck and his wife Fran, own the Mollyockett Motel on Route 26. Some of the people who stay at the motel have been displaced from Rumford and other area towns and cities. Buck gives people in need the sanctuary they need because his faith compels him to help those he can.

Motel guest, Candice Casey, said, “This was the only place I could find that even had a space. Every single homeless shelter in this state is full and has been for at least six months.”

Casey said she had to give up her job with H&R Block because she had no way to get from Woodstock to Rumford. She is disabled and doesn’t drive. She has turned down jobs in Bethel, Lewiston and Augusta because she hasn’t been able to find nearby housing. “It’s a crisis,” said Casey.

Casey had lived in three (state inspected and approved) apartments in Rumford. Each time having to move because of the condition of the buildings. The first one leaked from the third floor all the way down to her first floor apartment.

Another had no hot water for two weeks. The third one had dangerous hanging wires, “If it were anywhere but Maine it would have long ago been condemned and declared unfit for human habitation. Maine has code enforcement officers who just don’t check anything,” said Casey.

She has been paying $107. per night for her room for the past month at the Mollyockett Motel, with monetary help from her stepfather. She worries what will happen to her if her stepfather can’t keep paying. “It’s always over my head.”

She has stayed in touch with two of the families she lived near in subsidized housing in Rumford. One family is two adults with a child. They had been living in the woods or wherever they could find, one night at a time, said Casey.  “They were taken to Ellsworth…that was the only shelter in the entire state in all of those months that had a room.” Like Casey, they have no car. “I know another family, that lived in the same apartment (as me).  The father has kidney failure. He’s on dialysis. They don’t have stability or a roof over their head.”

Casey has work experience in law enforcement, has cared for three grandparents and has been a foster mom to many. But now at age 61, she worries about what’s next. “There are people like me that have a job and do not have a place to live. Noting many of the ram shackled buildings around, she says, Maine needs housing standards… People are getting shoved out of housing when there’s been no housing to replace it.”

For, Tim Buck, owner of the Mollyockett Motel, Christianity guides his life. Of the displaced people who live at the motel, Buck says, “we give some grace… I’ve got to pay my bills. I’m responsible for that. But if I’m caught up on my bills, then we can be more gracious.”

Buck says until recently they had seven or eight families living at the motel, but they had to leave when they ran out of benefits. Some, were families with children.

Buck works directly with Community Concepts, churches and other social welfare agencies to make sure the families are housed and to ensure he is paid. “We are one of the cheapest in the area. Us and no other motel lets people stay for free. It costs $99-$119. per night. We just went up to help with the oil (costs).”

The motel ‘office’ is the Buck’s living room and kitchen. A giant screen tv plays in the toasty room, while Buck philosophizes. He can walk only so far as he is connected to a 57-foot cord that goes to his oxygen tank that runs 24 hours a day.

They are selling the motel because he has interstitial fibrosis pulmonary lung disease and while his wife is fully capable to run the business, he does not want her to be burdened, should he die. They are building their retirement home on the adjacent property.

A guest at the motel, stops in to the office and asks Buck if he can put the doors on the cart for him? After he’s left,  Buck says, “He’s really helped me out. He picks up cigarette butts and trash. He just helps me out a lot.”

“I’ve had some really fantastic people (staying here). They are very respectful. There’s been a few that aren’t though, Yep, those are the ones that create a bad name, but you can’t judge everybody based on on a few people.”

Recently a man put cigarette holes in two new pillow top mattresses that Buck will now need to replace along with the carpet. Another woman was flushing food down the toilet, causing the toilet to back-up and making it difficult for the woman who cleans the rooms.

“According to the doctors I’ve got three years left to live. I don’t think they know what they’re talking about but just in case I’m wrong. You know, I want God to say, ‘Tim, you’ve done a good job’. You know, I’m not looking for praise from men. Although, I love helping guys. I want God to say ‘you’ve done good’.”

 

 

 

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