LEWISTON – Anne Geller was one of the first through the door at U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud’s office Thursday morning toting a blueberry pie.

Geller’s daughter, a freelance violinist in New York City, makes a good living but dropped health insurance when she couldn’t afford it anymore. When the Farmington mother found out, she and her husband bought a policy to cover their daughter.

“It really hit home,” Geller said. “If our daughter needed care, we would pay for it and it could wipe us out. She said, ‘Oh, I feel so bad that you and Dad have to do this,’ and I said, ‘But we would take care of you no matter what.'”

She walked down Lisbon Street as part of the Service Employee International Union’s Change That Works campaign. Its “Recipe for Recovery?” Better health care and more unions. That message was delivered with pie across Maine on Thursday.

The 20-plus volunteers in Lewiston hoped to bring attention to the Employee Free Choice Act in front of Congress and to health care reform in general by stopping at congressional offices.

Spokesmen for Michaud and U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree said they both support the act, which would make it easier to unionize workplaces. U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins do not support it.

Greg Howard, state coordinator for Change That Works, said the event was timed to coincide with congressional members being home on break. The group brought along 1,000 letters Maine people have sent to the delegation supporting the two issues. It makes an impact, Howard said, to see them all at once.

In front of Michaud’s office, Kevin Simpson of Auburn said he was lucky. When he was laid off recently at Geiger, he kept his MaineCare coverage. When he was let go after 14 years, Simpson said, he was told it was because of the economic downturn.

“That’s the thing about not having (union) representation; you don’t find out why it happened, you just know it happened,” Simpson said.

Will Fessenden of Sabattus spoke about the uneven health care offered to his grandparents.

His father’s parents, who both died in December, were put into different living facilities.

“Unfortunately, insurance and MaineCare decided what was best,” Fessenden said. “They were not able to get on the same page about agreeing on the level of care each needed. My grandparents spent their final days on Earth living apart.”

That stood in contrast to another grandfather, a World War II veteran, who got excellent care through the Veterans Administration, Fessenden said. “While our veterans deserve health care that they are entitled to, I would argue that that right extends to all Americans.”

Michaud, through a spokesman, said he was listening.

“I agree with the Mainers who visited my office that health care reform is desperately needed and that we need to focus on policies that help American workers succeed and build a better life for themselves and their families,” he said.

Extra blueberry pies from the morning were to be taken to a local soup kitchen. Staff at Michaud’s office asked that their pies go there, too.