BETHEL — All 13 of Jesper Kruse’s Maine Passive House construction crew came out to build an addition at the Bethel Area District Exchange and Food Pantry at 279 Walkers Mills Road.

The crew from Bethel’s Maine Passive House donated their labor to build a walk-in refrigerated space on the back of the Bethel Area Food Pantry on Walkers Hill Road. Rose Lincoln/Bethel Citizen

They donated two full days of labor on Oct. 31 and Nov. 2.

The 20′ X 14′ addition at the back of the building will hold a walk-in cooler and walk-in freezer for the food pantry. “I don’t know how far we’ll get … get it framed, get it weather-tight, get the siding on,” said Kruse, of Greenwood.

He said a delivery truck will be able to access the addition from a side entry. A separate interior door will allow volunteers to access the walk-in from the market area of the food pantry.

Operations Manager Katrina Belle, of Bryant Pond, who was building rafters said, “It’s really cool that we are able to set aside a few days and work on projects that impact the whole community, cause obviously we are usually working on private homes.”

Meganne Radway, of Newry, a three-year employee at Maine Passive, said their focus on community building is one of the most valuable things about being an employee at Maine Passive.

Maine Passive has donated labor days to Habitat for Humanity, Gemini Cafe, and other local businesses and municipalities.

It works well for us, said Kruse, “It gives us a chance to be together. Do something that benefits the community but at the same time it’s a chance for the whole company to get together and for everybody in the company to feel like they are doing something that helps.

“It’s a lot of coordination to keep everyone busy. If anyone ends up being idle, I think we’ll go upstairs [to the second floor apartment] and wallpaper,” he said.

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