Pop for Change #145

Bettina Doulton:

Taking care of each other, Slowing down a little bit to hear somebody's story. All of those things matter. We've hopefully with this helped the people who needed a little extra help. And actually the people who have volunteered are feeling a little bit better about themselves too. So it's been good for a whole lot of people all the way around.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

this is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you are listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and podcast show number 145, Pop for Change, airing for the first time on Sunday, June 22, 2014. What happens when you combine a great party with helping your neighbors, Pop the Cause and Pop for change? In 2008, Bettina Dolton of Cellar Door Winery and Laney Styles of McGunticook Market began hosting the annual Pop the Cork Party in Rockport to benefit Mid coast organizations such as the Farnsworth Art Museum and the Penobscot Bay ymca. Last year they decided to radically revamp Pop the Cork, renaming it Pop the Cause, pledging to give away $160,000 to four local charities. Tickets for this June 26 event sold out in less than two hours. This prompted them to add a second Pop for change on June 28th. Tickets for this event were only available to those who had donated four hours of volunteer work. Today we speak with Bettina Dolten and Devon Salisbury of Cellar Door as well as representatives of the organizations who will benefit from this year Pops Joe Curl of Coastal Opportunities, Rusty Brace of United Mid Coast Opportunities, Lee Carker of Meals on Wheels and Stephanie Prim and Penny Beebe Senter of the Midcoast Hospitality House. We hope you'll be inspired to help pop your own changes in your own community. Thank you for listening. I always really enjoy spending time with people who are dedicated to making the lives of our neighbors and ourselves better, and today I really believe we have strong and dynamic group of individuals in the doctoralisa Radio Hour studio. And we're quite thrilled to have everybody with us today. We have Joe Curl, who is the executive director of Coastal Opportunities, an organization based in Camden that works with developmentally disabled adults so that they are able to become active participants in the local community. Joe, thanks for coming in.

Joe Curll:

Thank you, Dr. Lisa.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We also have Rusty Brace, the president of United Mid Coast Charities, an organization that supports nonprofits in Knox and Waldo counties. Thanks for being here.

Rusty Brace:

Thank you for inviting me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We have Bettina Dalton, who is the owner of Cellar Door Winery in Lincolnville and Rockport. Bettina is one of the driving forces behind the creation of Pop for Change and Pop the Cause. Thank you for being here. My pleasure. And Devin Salisbury is going to chime in. She's across the room, but she'll chime in at times. She's the director of events at Cellar Door Winery and the volunteer coordinator for Pop for Change. You guys are doing some great work in the Mid coast region. It's really impressive. I spent time looking at each of your organizations, and I want to hear what Joe. What you're working on, what you're working on. Rusty. But first, I want to talk to Bettina. Bettina, you've been with Cellar Door. You became the owner in 2007. Cellar door is a winery in Lincolnville and Rockport that's been around for 200 years. 68 acres. You've done a lot of work in the community, but this is a different year for you. After doing Pop the Cork since 2008, this year you decided to do something very different with your summertime events. Why is that?

Bettina Doulton:

Oh, wow. And actually, with Joe and Rusty and Devin here, we've all sat at the farmhouse tables talking about why this year really needed to be different. Pop The Cork since 2008, has always been a fundraiser for a local nonprofit. And we've been really proud of that through the course of it. Despite good intentions, the bigness of the event started to matter more than the fact that we were trying to get nonprofits of the fundraising for them and more visibility and to grow their communities. And so after last year's Pop the Cork, we really retrenched so that we could put the community, the nonprofits, more up front. And we retweaked it. And so that's kind of an evolution. We're really proud of it this year. And so this year it is Pop the Cause, which is the Thursday, June 26th celebration. That's a ticketed event. And the key element of that Is instead of one non profit beneficiary, we have four. And umcc, Coastal Opportunities, Hospitality House and Meals on Wheels. And there's a vote element. The community is invited to vote for one of the four. The winner of that vote will be awarded $100,000 and each of the other three will get $20,000. And then there's this volunteer element and a big celebration of volunteerism. And each of the four nonprofits have volunteer shifts and over 500 people have volunteered for them. So it's really changed it. We're still celebrating community and nonprofit, doing a lot of fundraising along the way. And the energy is different, so we're really proud of that. But it's an evolution. It's the first year we've done it this year and you know, feels good.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Some of your original charities were the Farnsworth Museum, the Mid Coast Habitat, the Penobscot Bay YMCA and also the United Mid Coast Charities. You've really been supporting that organization for years now.

Bettina Doulton:

Rusty has been a leader in the Mid coast community as far as an incredible face and voice and passion behind nonprofits up in that area. And when you learn more about what UMCC does, he is absolutely engulfing in the way that he draws you into being a part of this community and supporting it. So yes, umcc, yes, he's fabulous and believes in what he does and you get swept up into it, quite frankly.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So Rusty, I know that the United Mid Coast Charities represents or collaborates with organizations like the Red Cross Hospice, Literacy Volunteers and also the Wayfinder School. And that's just a small piece of what you do. But there must be some reason why you've been so committed to working amidst your neighbors and better the lives of the people around you for a long time.

Rusty Brace:

Well, you have to remember that United Mid Coast Charities is now in its 72nd year of continuous operation, founded in 1942. And the real reason for United Mid Coast Charities is to serve the underserved. And we, you know, about every 30 months we raise a million dollars. We raise it all in Knox county and we give it away in Knox Counties. And we have three precepts which I particularly like. 100% of all contributions are 100% distributed. We're an all volunteer organization and our modest expenses are paid by a separate endowment. So we have kind of a formula there that really works and it's very attractive to many of our donors. I can tell you also that the money, the money that we raised, 46% of the grants go to organizations serving youth and Children. And we're very proud of that. That's nearly half of all the money we raise goes to the youth and children. And a lot of people really like that. And 24% goes to community organizations, 18% to medical services, and 12% goes to educational organizations. So we know where the money is going. We do a good job of communicating where that money is. And it seems to be attractive overall. We're a federation of 50 agencies, and this year, for example, we're kind of overloaded. We have 59 organizations that are requesting money from us. So we have a big job to do. Why am I doing this? I'm doing it, you know, to serve, to raise money for the underserved, raise money for those youth and children agencies. And in this day and age, it's very difficult for the agencies to raise money on their own, Although that's one of our criteria. You have to raise money on your own before you get any money from United Mid Coast Charities. And we look at that very carefully. We have 45 directors. There's a management challenge for you. And we. And they all do a great job. We have a nice team working. And I think we make an impact in the community. I know we do. In Knox and Waldo counties. You have to remember, we're just narrow Knox and Waldo counties. We don't go outside of that particular area.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

But I'm also wondering what your personal motivation for doing this is. I mean, it does sound like it could be a management challenge. And yet it sounds like you've been committed to doing this for a number of years.

Rusty Brace:

Well, I spent my career, it's really been in the communications industry and publishing weekly newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and so forth. And so I've been with this organization for about 35 years, president for the last 17. And I get a lot of satisfaction out of raising money. There isn't a lot of people don't wake up in the morning, put their feet on the floor and say, I can't wait to go out and ask for money. I like to do that. So I go out and I ask for money for these 50 agencies that we have. And I guess that's part of why I'm doing it really, is to make sure that these agencies get a little bit anyway of the money we raise.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, that leads me to a question for Joe. Joe, you're the executive director of Coastal Opportunities. This organization works. Your organization works with developmentally disabled adults. So Rusty's out there raising money for lots of different organizations, but among them yours. And these are people who really don't have a voice. These are people who largely need to have other people work with them in order to become known, in order to find a place.

Joe Curll:

I'm obviously one of those voices, but they're parents and guardians and the other people involved with them are also pretty strong voices and have been their voice, you know, since they were born, pretty much.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I believe you have 11 facilities and you work with between 90 and 100 developmentally disabled adults.

Joe Curll:

Yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And what are some of the types of things that these adults are doing over the course of their days?

Joe Curll:

Eight of those facilities are residences. So everyone in our residence residents is expected, if they can, to come to the day program every day. And from day program they do a variety of activities. They do volunteer activities in a lot of the local community agencies that allow volunteers. And that's been a great way to connect with other people in the community for our folks. And some of them work during the day in local businesses for two to four hours a day, usually. We also run a business, a redemption center, bottle redemption center that employs four people consistently. A few years ago, we decided to move away. Years ago, everyone was paid subminimum wage in facility and we decided to go away from the sub minimum and only employ people in those places and people employed by ourselves at a minimum wage or above. So we also use the YMCA a lot for PT ot those kinds of things. And one of our participants works at the ymca, so that's a lot of fun. And they've been actually some of the employees, they've highlighted at two different times. And we have their. When they're highlighted, y does a poster of them. They put the pictures around the Y of different participants at the.

Rusty Brace:

Yeah.

Joe Curll:

And we have their posters in our meeting room sort of as a, you know, as something for other people to work towards. And they get a big kick out of it too.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

One of the first articles that I wrote as the wellness editor with Maine Magazine was on Scotty Wenzel. And he's a individual who's 13 years old, he's developmentally disabled, he doesn't have normal speech, and he has required a lot of community services. But it really has been amazing to see how well people connect with him, that this is something that everybody gets something out of. He gets something out of it, people around him get something out of it. And I suspect that this is true of the people that you're working with as well.

Joe Curll:

Yeah, I think that that's one of the biggest things is just getting people out there and getting other people used to the folks, I think our generation, the generation I'm from, we never saw, saw people with developmental disabilities in the school. They were just other places they weren't served. After the public law went into effect in 1975 that required all special education for all students, they became integrated into the schools. So the younger generation has had this group of people around since school age, so they're much more used to the population. But people's Rusty's age and my age that didn't have as much exposure to this population initially as we started residences, there was a lot of fear that these people were coming in the community and what are they going to do and are they going to be good neighbors? And you know, over the past 25 or 30 years, as as they've moved into community and become good neighbors, it's just been a really good transition to see. It's so gradual that once you get over the initial hump, it is the hardest. And then people just open up and really take our folks in as friends and as participants in the community. And I think they do have a lot of value to give to the community. Community.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Here on the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and podcast, we've long recognized the link between health and wealth. Here to speak more on the topic is Tom Shepard of Shepherd Financial.

[Unidentified voice]:

I'm a lacrosse player still. It's something I've been doing for more years than I can remember. Over the years, I've had my share of aches and pains, scrapes and disappointments. But regardless of what happened in the last game, I always look forward to the next one. Because each time I gear up and step onto the playing field, I know I'm there to push myself to new limits, to ignore the perceived limits of my 40 plus years and attack the game with the same gusto and joy as I did when I was younger. And each time I do this, I feel a great sense of accomplishment. Not because of the score or who won or lost, but because I challenged myself. I push forward knowing that in those fleeting moments of game time, I'm growing and experiencing life to the fullest. If you want to push on in your own financial evolution, give me a call. 207-847-4032. I'll help you evolve with your money.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Bettina. One of the things that visitors to Cellar Door will find out about is the doormark. And this is a symbol of acceptance, cheer, purpose and welcome. And it strikes me as we're talking with Rusty and with Joe, that all of this is about that, about acceptance, cheer, purpose and welcome, hope, safety, all of those things.

Bettina Doulton:

It is. It's safe and welcoming place, you know, taking care of each other, slowing down a little bit to hear somebody's story. All of those things matter. And I was listening to you talk about your first article and listening to Joe and, you know, we talk about this volunteerism effort that we have all put together with Pop4Change for this spring. And Devin has really worked the closest with the volunteers to get them coordinated. But the emails that come in that say, I have been looking for a way to get involved to volunteer, I didn't know how. And all of a sudden we've introduced people to reaching out and getting involved to help with the community and with people that need, as Rusty calls to be served a little bit. We've hopefully, with this, helped the people who needed a little extra help. And actually the people who have volunteered are feeling a little bit better about themselves, too. So it's been good for a whole lot of people all the way around.

Rusty Brace:

I'll tell you a good volunteer story. You want a story?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I'd love a story.

Bettina Doulton:

Rusty owns a good story.

Rusty Brace:

Two weeks ago, we had a big stuffing operation going on in Belfast at the YMCA in Waldo County. And we had to stuff and prepare, really do a good job on 7,000 pieces of mailing. And we had a lot of. Through Devon, we got a lot of volunteers. We had 50 volunteers at the Waldo County YMCA. They stuffed and completed that job in four and a half hours, which is a new world's record. And so you can see the value of the volunteers that they really do go to work. I think they're all going to come back if they want to. So it's. It's a great story of what volunteers can do. And that's just. Well, there are a lot of volunteer stories, but that one just happened. Within the last two weeks, we've had

Bettina Doulton:

people at Habitat for Humanity building buildings. We've had people delivering food. We've got people. Joe, do you want to talk about your event, the Cash event.

Joe Curll:

Yeah, we have a clothing sale twice a year and it takes a lot of people to sort the clothes and price the clothes and then move the clothes over to where the sale is. And we've had an unbelievable amount of volunteers that have come in for that. And the other night there was a big pile of clothes to be sorted and we were having a meeting for Cash for clothes, but the director decided to stay with. There were so many new volunteers that she had to stay up there to direct them. And she actually just came in at the end of the meeting, but she said everything had cleaned out, so she was pretty, pretty happy.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

When I think about the evolution from Pop the Cork, which started in 2008, to this year's Pop the Cause, which from what I understand, the tickets went on sale November 1st of 2013 and were sold out in 10 hours.

Bettina Doulton:

No, 2.

Rusty Brace:

2.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

2 hours.

Bettina Doulton:

2 hours.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Which is. It's pretty fast for a world record. And I know that. I mean, I'm sure it's going to be great because you'll have the Sultans and the Poynter sisters and you know, your 400 guests will really enjoy that in Rockport. But then the next you actually added an event on. This is going to be June 26th. Pop for Change was an add on in which you were asking people to volunteer for four hours so that they could come to the June 28th event and listen to DJ Mark Thrasher and Belinda Carlisle. You got 500 volunteers, you asked for 400. And as of the last count, you got 500 volunteers.

Bettina Doulton:

We did. And we, I think we could have kept going. And that's the thing that we all are going to sit down on June 29th and say, okay, what are we going to do for next year? Because we're starting to look at a calendar and everybody to join us for the celebration of volunteerism on the 28th has to complete their volunteer hours. We're running out of calendar days to get our volunteers their four hour shifts and done. But the interest has been terrific and we have people talking about it and all those good things. So, yes, very exciting. We wanted to limit the ticketed event, but we really wanted to. Then this whole volunteer effort was. And this idea came up as we met back in November. The ticket sales were done and we met with all the charities up at the farmhouse at the winery and we started to talk about, okay, we now have seven months until Pop the Cause and the vote is done. What do you all need? What kind of things do you want. And it was pretty consistent messages. And Joe and Rusty can add and Devin can add from that discussion, but there were clear messages from each of these nonprofits which were we need to get our message out and we need more people engaged. We need the next generation of volunteers and donors to start to hear the stories of these, you know, and to date it really has been the baby boomers who have supported many of the organizations up in the mid coast. And we really need the next generation to get involved and engaged financially and time wise. So we needed to get the stories out. And then pretty consistently they all four of these nonprofits said we need volunteers. And from that combination we stewed up this idea of, well, let's see if we can get a volunteer effort out there. And Cellar Door has been known to throw a decent party and if we can incent it by doing that, by the only way to get a ticket is you volunteer four hours. We threw it out there. We had no idea what the response would be. Devin has done a Herculean effort to organize the logistics of this. Apparently you can do an event like this on sticky notes and an Excel spreadsheet and out they came. So we tried something new and I think it's pretty good that you can get a community trying something new for the right reasons this quickly. And that's the nice thing. We've seen this in Maine before. You know, we see it on smaller levels. We see it on this response. Very rarely around here do you see somebody say such and such needs a little bit of help. Whether it is the supper over in Lincolnville coming up this Saturday. For somebody who's had a tough time or whatever, there's usually somebody out there willing to help if you connect the need and the giver. So we've done a little bit of that cross matching with a lot of sticky notes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

The quote that is on your website is one from Margaret Mead and it's actually one that means a lot to me because my Bowdoin College classmate Hanley Denning, who is the founder of Safe Passage, who passed away several years ago after founding Safe Passage, which is an organization that educates Guatemalan children who live outside the Guatemala City dump. This was one of her favorites. This is by Margaret Meadow, anthropologist. Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. And what I'm hearing from each of you is that it really doesn't matter what you think. You have to give. You just give. You just start from wherever you are. I mean, you could be sorting clothes for a clothes drive, or you could be donating four hours at the Tanglewood camp, or you could be doing Meals on Wheels. But you just have to start wherever you are. And you spent, bettina, you spent 21 years with fidelity doing work in the financial field before you owned this winery. So you're a pretty good example of somebody who just said, you know, I'm not sure what the next step is, but I'm just going to move forward with this. Yes.

Bettina Doulton:

And, you know, I came from a high rise building in Boston with my last career, and if I could tell you one anecdote, and that would be, I remember way back when, in my first season owning the winery in the spring of 2007, I had just gotten here and there's a Rotary Club in Camden and they invited me to come and speak about the winery. And I think they were probably the business community in Camden was a little intrigued by the crazy lady from Boston who bought a winery in Lincolnville, Maine. And off I went, and it was at the ymca. And I honestly don't remember who spoke or shared the statistic. But back in 2007, the comment was that there are 38% of the children in Knox county need aid every day to eat. And from that moment on, you know, I probably should have been more aware in Boston, all those things. But as soon as I heard that statistic, I realized, okay, there is a connectedness up here, and it is one degree of separation from doing okay and the 38% of the children who aren't eating properly every day. And that statistic has stuck with me ever since. And I'm afraid it hasn't gotten better in the seven years. But when you hear a statistic like that, for me, it kind of motivated me to try and figure out how I could help in my little tiny way. And I know I am not going to fix the world. But you know what? Maybe we'll figure something out between the bunch of us here and we keep trying, you know.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, part of your trying also is that there is $160,000 that is going to go to four charities. $20,000 to each of three, and then the fourth will get $100,000. What I want to ask Rusty and Joe is what could you do with $20,000?

Rusty Brace:

Well, with $20,000, it gives us an opportunity to give more money to agencies. And when you look at another statistic From Bettina's library, 33% of the people in both Knox and Waldo county are on welfare. And there is a great need there. And with $20,000, we won't direct it to one person, one location, one agency. We have a very, very sophisticated way of judging and interviewing each agency to determine how much the funds that we should give to each one. So the 20,000 would be added to our total that we would allocate to the agencies.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Rusty, if I can jump in, Lisa.

Bettina Doulton:

Rusty, what's your. So you say you have 50 some agencies that you support on an annual basis with financial help. What's your average contribution? Average contribution to each of the 50? Is there a way to look at it that way?

Rusty Brace:

Well, that is, I suppose, a way. I've never really figured it out because it runs from say 40,000 down to 2,000. But, you know, I would say that an agency will get at least 20,000, but I've never figured out an average,

Bettina Doulton:

but maybe it's somewhere between one. Two of the agencies will get a donation from this if it's 20,000, right?

Rusty Brace:

Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Oh, yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And one of these agencies I know is Joe's agency, Coastal Opportunities. Joe, what could your agency do with $20,000 to help the developmentally disabled adults that you work with?

Joe Curll:

Well, the timing on this is really good because we've been working with a congregational church in Camden for the last three years to replace housing that three men have lived in for 20 years. Three men with intellectual disabilities and one person that lives there sort of as a sympathetic landlord, not as a staff. And the building is really choppy with up and down stairs. And the church is going to sell us a piece of land in the parking lot beside where this building is, right in downtown Camden. And we're going to build an accessible. All the units on the bottom floor will be handicap accessible in floor heat, super insulated, with an apartment for the sympathetic landlord upstairs. And that we should break ground on that hopefully maybe this month. So it's a really good partnership with the church. And we had to go through their whole process with the minister and the congregation, and it's gone back and forth and ended up with them agreeing to sell us the land. So it's been a really good process. And the interesting thing is the church was also the first site of the school for handicapped children in Camden in the basement. So these three, two of the three guys went to school in that church basement. And then the first workshop, Coastal Opportunities Workshop, was in the building where they're living now. So it's been a full circle for them.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Devon, I know you do a lot of Things with Cellar Door Winery. You're the director of events for one thing. But this seems like a very interesting and special set of events to have worked on. What have you learned from your experience over the last several months?

Devon Salisbury:

It's been pretty amazing, actually. The public outpouring to us to be the person that has seen every email for somebody volunteering and then spoken with all the directors and the agencies and being able to connect that and having simply a gentleman, for instance, emailed and said, I wash windows. Where can you put me? And I emailed Rusty And I said, 51 properties, there's somebody that wants to wash your windows. And we had another person that came and said, you know, I own a car wash, I'll detail some cars. And I called Joe up and said, you have vans that transport people here. And to be able to be that link connecting everybody has been pretty amazing. And we keep joking around because people say to Bettina and I, you guys are doing so much. And I said, we haven't even volunteered yet. You know, it's the people that are doing the volunteer effort, you know. Yeah, we have set up the system for everyone, but we've basically just made it accessible for everybody to be able to help the community.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I know that people are already thinking about next year. Of course, Pop the Cause and Pop for Change are happening this week, June 26th and 28th. If you haven't already done your volunteering and you haven't already bought your tickets, then for 2014, you're out of luck. But we will see many people who are listening at these events coming up in the next week. For people who are interested next year thinking about 2015, what would you tell them, Bettina?

Bettina Doulton:

Give us a couple days after we finish Pop the cause and pop4change and let us regroup and we'll probably figure out how to evolve this again next year. We love the volunteer element of all of this. We love the money element of all of this. And we are, from this effort are going to figure out how to pick the best pieces of all of this this year and make sure that the community gets to serve its community again next year in some way. I will admit we have two events with two different titles all this week. I will admit in my effort to do good, I might have made this slightly confusing this year. So I won't let anyone write that in ink. But I will admit we tackled a lot this year. I am fairly sure as Thursday and Saturday's parties come, people are going to be at the wrong party and we are going to smiley smile graciously and make it work. But you know what? We'll figure out how to take the best of everything we've tried in the last eight months and make it better in 2015.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And I will also give a shout out to Laney Styles, who is the owner of Mugunda Cook Market, which is an additional, I guess a co organizer sponsor, along with Cellar Door Winery of Pop the Cause and Pop for a Change.

Bettina Doulton:

I don't do anything without Ms. Laney. Nope. Absolutely.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, we have been so fortunate today to sponsor Spend Time with Joe Curl, the executive director of Coastal Opportunities Rusty Brace, the president of United Mid Coast Charities, Bettina Dolten, the owner of Cellar Door Winery and Devin Salisbury, the director of events at Cellar Door Winery. I will see you all at Pop the Cause and Pop for Change and thank you for all the work that each of you is doing in your communities. I know that it's important and I know that your time is valuable. So the fact that you're here now, spreading the word, means a lot to me. Thank you.

Rusty Brace:

It's our pleasure to be here.

Bettina Doulton:

Thank you.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

As a physician and small business owner, I rely on Marcie Booth from Booth, Maine to help me with my own business and to help me live my own life fully. Here are a few thoughts from Marcy

[Unidentified voice]:

when asked, most of my clients say the same thing about what keeps them up at night. Money making. Certain cash flow is there to meet day to day operational needs. Oh my gosh, is payroll going to be able to make it? When we dig deeper, we understand that those sleepless nights are symptoms of poor planning and forecasting. And more often than not, the reasons for not doing it are a lack of time and a lack of resources. So here's a suggestion. Instead of living in fear of the numbers and losing sleep over them, make peace with them by paying closer attention to the financials and creating positive cash flow. I'm Marcie Booth. Let's talk about the changes you need. Boothmaine.com

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Today's show is an especially important one because I think we're doing interesting and different things with bringing, I guess, health and happiness and wellness to our neighbors, specifically in the Middle coast area. As we've talked about earlier, we are talking about Pop the Cause And Pop for Change. Today. In this segment we have with us Stephanie Prim, who is the executive director at the Midcoast Hospitality House, a program based in Rockport that works to provide housing and rehabilitation to homeless individuals and families in Knox County. We also have with us Penny Beebe, center, who is on the board of directors for the Knox County Homeless Coalition. And Lee Carker, the executive director of the Methodist Conference Home, which runs a Meals on Wheels program for residents in Knox County. And joining us again, we have Bettina Dalton, the owner of Celador Winery in Lincolnville and Rockport and one of the driving forces behind the creation of pop4change and pop the cause. And also Devin Salisbury, the director of events at Celador Winery and the volunteer coordinator for Pop4Change. So with all of this brain power and heart power in the room, we can't really go wrong. I want to start with Devin. Devin, this event has been something very different than what you've worked on before, and it's been something that has evolved over time. You've ended up working with a lot of different people in the Mid coast area to bring this to fruition. What has that been like for you?

Devon Salisbury:

It's been incredibly rewarding. It's been really nice to see people come together and to see everybody offer up their unique skill sets to help do things and to see people. I think the best part of it has seen the repeat customers. For instance, yesterday I was talking with a woman who now just did her third meal drop, the Frida Hanlon over at Hospitality House, and she said, that was fun. I'm gonna go back next week and then I'm scheduled for the week after that. And that While we've started Pop4Change and that has a definitive timeline to see these volunteers who don't have a definitive timeline and they're going to continue to give and help these charities.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Lee, you are the executive director of the Methodist Conference Home, which runs a Meals on Wheels program. And Meals on Wheels is something that many people are familiar with. You in your area are offering 100 meals a week, five days a week. And also you have two community sites. This is a big job.

Lee Karker:

We actually are doing 125 meals a day now. The demand for the program has grown, so that's been challenging. But yeah, we think it's a great thing to be doing for people. Yeah, we do have the two community meal sites where people can come in and have a meal and the 125 people that we're delivering to, but it's more than just delivering a meal. We have a number of volunteers that work with us anyway, and I think that's probably at least the equal of the meal itself is someone coming and stopping by and saying hello on a regular basis. They really get to know each other and feel like, well, almost like family.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

For people who aren't familiar with Meals on Wheels, this is bringing meals to people who can't easily get outside of their houses.

Lee Karker:

That's right. The qualifications are they. They need to be essentially homebound. That doesn't mean that they can't ever get out of their house, but that they either can't prepare a meal or they can't get out and shop for a meal and don't have anyone else who regularly delivers meals for them.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And that piece that you are talking about, that human connection, is especially important because if you can't get out to get your food to cook for yourself, then you probably aren't connecting with as many people as you once did.

Lee Karker:

Yes, I think isolation is a problem that a lot of these folks face, and I think that this is a great way to break it because, as I said, they develop relationships with the people that bring them food, and it's a contact with the outside community.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Bettina, this connection, this community connection has been so important to you really from the very beginning. Not only with Pop the Cork, which you've been doing every year since 2008, but also with what you do on a regular basis at Cellar Door. It's really not just about the wine for you at Cellar Door. It's about the connections that people make and the joy of being a part of a community.

Bettina Doulton:

Oh, we. We talked a little bit earlier about what we're all about, which is providing a gracious, welcoming, relaxing place. It means nothing more to us to see guests walk into our barn and see their shoulders relaxed just a little bit and get a break from the rat race. You know, for the most part, we don't hear cell phone rings and we don't hear all those things. And people get to relax and feel like they're welcome into a home and life is busy. And that's even for the people who are driving themselves places and this and that, and if they can have 45 minutes or an hour and a half where they get to have a moment. And I know it sounds a little bit simple, but if at the end of the day people go home and they have a highlight for the day, I sort of feel like we've all won. And if they take a bottle of wine home with Them, Sure. I'm sure that the accountants would be really happy about that. But first and foremost, if they can say at the end of the day, say, put their head in the pillow, you know what, the view was great and the people were nice, and it was all just a nice experience, we're going to call that a win, you know, and we have a lot of incredible friends and loyal supporters of the winery who come back multiple times every season and they smile and we share stories. And I know it sounds a little like the Cheers bar, but it matters. You know, people are meant to have a highlight every day. And for the people in the Meals on Wheels program to know that there's going to be a friendly face walking in the door, that's good. And when you talk to Stephanie and Penny and you hear about how important it is to have home and safety for these people who are homeless, it's all the same thing, which is that metaphoric hug that everybody needs every day to make sure that they know it's okay. So, yeah, it all matters. And yes, somewhere along the line, I sell a bottle of wine or two. But more importantly, it's the highlights and the hugs and the welcomes and the it's okay to let your shoulders drop and let the stress go someplace else.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Devon, has this been an interesting contrast for you working as the director of events at Cellar Door, where food and wine mean one thing to working with people like Lee and Stephanie and Pinny, where food and home and drink mean something very different? Absolutely.

Devon Salisbury:

It's been both sides of the spectrum doing that, doing large parties where everyone's coming out to celebrate and there's a plethora of food and wine all around you, and nobody's really for want for anything at a Cellar Door event to then going to help these people out. But the basics are still there. And at the end of the day, people just want to be happy, be satiated with their food, feel safe and comfortable, and whether that be at a fun party or at a home, it's basically the same thing.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So we've been talking with Lee about the Meals on Wheels program, and this is largely for people who actually who have homes that they live in. Stephanie and Penny, you work with people who don't really have homes or not. The type of homes that many of us think of. Tell us a little bit more about what it is that the Midcoast Hospitality House does.

[Unidentified voice]:

We are quite simply home help and hope for our population. And what does that mean? That means that we have a new model of really breaking the cycle of homelessness. So that includes sometimes shelter when we're not full, but it most importantly includes wrapping the client in a full and custom program of services that they need based on their case to get them out of their situation. Very supportive, very community oriented, warm, loving, not your typical probably connotation of what a shelter is in most people's minds. We're really like a family and three months into it, there's a lot of love there and there's a tremendous amount of progress happening every day.

[Unidentified voice]:

And we basically are building a community within the shelter. And part of that is about people having respect for each other, people looking out for each other, understanding where each other's buttons are. So it's not a matter of being divorced from the community and then re entering the community. It's more a matter of remaining part of the community.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

That's an interesting point that you raise. If I think about just living in my house with my children, I mean, that's a community enough, but it's a bit of a chosen community. I chose to have children, I choose to keep my children. So if you're in a situation where you don't necessarily get to choose where you are, then that community building is very different.

[Unidentified voice]:

It is, it is. And I think it's very important because we have a lot of our homeless or in need people that have sort of been demonized by our politics. And so it's hard getting through the social service system. It's hard just being in a place of real need. So having a community is important and allows people to be themselves. So instead of desperately in need, there

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

There are a lot of different issues associated with homelessness. Stephanie, you alluded to this need for a blanketing, I guess is the word that you used. I know that when I have worked as a medical doctor with individuals who don't have a permanent home, there's a lot of emotional things that come up for people, a lot of psychological, social things. And the feeling of displacement really does something to individuals that I think more. Most of us can't really understand.

[Unidentified voice]:

The feeling of displacement and discouragement is the most prolific probably problem that they face to varying degrees. And what's been so amazing is when we take somebody into shelter, whether it's in the physical shelter or some of our virtual shelter, they become part of again, this family of support. And usually within a few hours of being taken into the shelter and we give them a tour and we show them their lovely room and it's very cozy. They go from being almost ashamed and afraid to coming downstairs and getting a cup of tea and sitting with us and saying, I have not felt hope in years. And that is just so self motivating. And their program starts the next day and they begin to feel like they're making progress. We've actually housed 22 people, have gone into independent housing in the three months that we've been open. We have 30 people in shelter and we have 60 people in our program. So there's a lot of progress happening.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Lee, you mentioned that you're now doing 125 as opposed to 100, which I guess I found from an old source. It sounds like the need for Meals on Wheels is unparalleled with the need for homeless resources, that there's more need than there has been before. What do you think that this is due to?

Lee Karker:

I think there's some real economic issues that we face in our society, particularly the disparity between the really wealthy and the really poor that make it difficult for people to climb out of poverty. But the other thing that we're seeing, particularly in Maine, which is the oldest state in the union, is that the population of Maine is aging. And there's been a sharp change in the last 10 years between the censuses. So that's one of the reasons why I think we're seeing this demand for the Meals on Wheels program. So we're also looking at, we're looking beyond just delivering food to them. We're looking at trying to find other ways to support them so that they can stay in their own homes and do so safely. I think we see a lot of people out there that are hanging on by their fingernails and living in conditions that you and I would not consider safe or healthy. So our hope is to do more than just deliver meals. We're working on developing some programs to do that too.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, that's interesting because I know that when I was part of being a doctor, I've done home visits before. And the types of things that you learn from people by actually being in their homes are so different than what you learn just during the course of a regular interview in a medical office. There are some things that are so foundational that the doctors may be doctors, nurses, maybe a lot of us don't even really understand when it comes to maybe the elderly or maybe people who are displaced, that I think maybe it's important that we're all working together to try to gain this understanding.

Lee Karker:

I think it's very important. And I think that Bettina and Celador Winery have given us a great opportunity here to work together. And just the ability to use these volunteers has been terrific for us because it's the repeat factor that you heard about earlier. We've got people who volunteered temporarily and they're on our permanent list now. So our core of volunteers has grown. And that's just really exciting because we were going to need those volunteers for the long term and they like what they're doing.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What types of things are you asking volunteers to help with when it comes to the Mid Coast Hospice Hospitality House or when it comes to the Meals on Wheels program?

Lee Karker:

With the Meals on Wheels program, it's primarily delivering, helping to deliver meals. It takes. We have a number of routes and it takes two or three hours in a morning to go out and deliver most of those routes. Some of them are even longer. So what we're doing is taking people out sometimes with some of our current volunteers so they can learn the routes and then they come back and they're able to do the routes on their own. We've had some help in the kitchen. We had some help one day. We did a special St. Patrick's Day dinner that we sent out on a Saturday. We don't normally deliver on a Saturday. And we had a great number of volunteers come out for that. That was a terrific, exciting, happy event.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And what about the Hospitality House? I know that this is a program in evolution. What types of things have the volunteers been working on?

[Unidentified voice]:

For us, the volunteer piece is critical and it is a full spectrum of need from the very concrete in terms of basics like food and nutrition, which cellar door was essential to our being able to open and get rolling on that front. But then it really moves on into programmatic efforts and reaches into the community and taps into organizations like Cellar Door and like some of the rotaries that are in the area who have managed to focus on something like education and then will come in. And we had West Bay Rotary set up an entire resource center in the shelter where we provide GED degree training, fiscal education. So programs are coming in from Bangor Savings bank and other organizations to help again, to help these people move forward with their lives

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

and with the volunteers who have come in. Penny, what types of responses are you seeing?

[Unidentified voice]:

Probably the largest, most consistent response is people are surprised that it in the environment of the house. I'm not exactly sure what they expect when they come in, but they're pleasantly surprised that people seem happy, the environment is inviting and they're glad they could help. They want to know what else they can do to help. Sort of it feels like we're sort of expanding the shelter out into the community. So it's. That's kind of nice. Everyone feels like they. They belong.

[Unidentified voice]:

So there's a family meal on Sundays that they cook together. One of the most profound findings for me in the. In the three months that we've been open and helping people is that the warmth of the environment, the caring of the staff, the caring of the volunteers, just all of those touch points that aren't so official. They're not the educational course or the appointment with the mental health clinician that has had as much impact or more impact on our residents than the rest of it. And that's why this model is so important.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So just as important as having a teacher, a doctor, somebody more official, is having the people who aren't as official, who are human and can. Who care and connect.

Bettina Doulton:

Yeah.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Any final thoughts, Bettina?

Bettina Doulton:

I'm going to share a text message I got from one young lady who went to take food over to Hospitality House. She dropped off things for the pantry and food and she sent me a text as she left and she said, just left top Hospitality House. I get it. This matters. That was a keeper.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, I think that what you are doing matters. Pop the cause. Pop for Change happening on June 26th. June 28th. Also, what everybody who has been a guest on the show today is doing matters. And all the volunteers who are working with Pop for Change. We've been speaking with Lee Carker, the executive director of the Methodist Conference Home, which runs a Meals on Wheels program. Stephanie Prim, the executive director at Midcoast Hospitality House Pini Beebe Senter, who is on the Board of Directors for the Knox County Homeless Coalition Bettina Dalton, the owner of Cellar Door Winery in Lincolnville and Rockport and Devin Salisbury, the Director of Events at Cellar Door Winery and the volunteer coordinator for Pop4Change. Thank you so much for everything that you all are doing on a daily basis and I can't wait to see what happens in the future. Thanks Lisa.

Devon Salisbury:

Thank you.

Bettina Doulton:

It's been fun.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You have been listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hourm podcast show number 145, Pop for Change. Our guests have included Bettina Dolten, Devon Salisbury, Joe Curl, Rusty Brace, Lee Carker, Stephanie Prim and Penny Beebe center for more information on our guests and extended interviews, visit drlisabelisle.com the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast is downloadable for free on itunes. For a preview of each week's show, sign up for our E Newsletter and like our Dr. Lisa Facebook page, follow me on Twitter and as bountiful one on Instagram. We love to hear from you, so please let us know what you think of the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour. We welcome your suggestions for future shows. Also let our sponsors know that you have heard about them here. We are privileged that they enable us to bring the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour to you each week. This is Dr. Lisa Belisle. I hope that you have enjoyed our Pop4Change show. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your day. May you have a bountiful life.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It.