Thursday

Work at H.O.M.E. and environs wrapped up today. Crews dug post holes and setpoles for new fences, sided a barn, worked on firewood for the winter,sorted clothes for the thrift shop, cleaned out the remnants of an old food pantry so that the space can be used for other social services, and did a variety of tasks around the area. As they have all week, our work teams battled a little rain and wind early, but still worked hard and accomplished a lot. As our hosts usually do, the H.O.M.E. folks have marveled at how well they work and how much they get done.

Tonight after dinner we gathered for "Senior Night" at the Methodist Church that has been our place for gathering up for our night sessions. It took us about 4 hours to tell our 10 seniors (Elena Beltrame, Ashley Bieze, MattCation, Steve Cation, Elizabeth Erb, David Perkins, Byron McGuire, SeanVogt, Zeke Walsh, and April Hope Wareham) how much they mean to the community and how much they will be missed. This is always a powerfully emotional time for the group, and, as I write this, they are finally all getting to sleep and ready to go tomorrow.

Tomorrow morning, we pack everything and everybody up and say farewell to H.O.M.E. We catch a trolley tour in Bar Harbor (only 38 miles away or so,but a good hour's drinve), and, weather permitting, our whale watching excursion. Then it's back in the vans and back to Brunswick, ME, where theFirst Parish UCC will host us for our end of trip worship, and where we will spend the night before heading back to Manchester Airport on Saturday morning.