I BELIEVE-Five Part Series

Simple h.o.m.e., exquisite vision
Since 1970, an agency fueled by Lucy Poulin's faith has fought poverty in Hancock County.
An Orland shelter group called h.o.m.e. has been propelled by the tireless dedication of Lucy Poulin.
By SETH HARKNESS
Staff Writer Portland Press Herald

EDITOR'S NOTE: For some people, commitment to an ideal is more than something for the holiday season. For them, faith in that ideal is a touchstone for their lives. First of five parts.

ORLAND — At first glance, the rustic buildings scattered along a rural stretch of Route 1 east of Bucksport have little in common.

A soup kitchen is attached to a greenhouse, a few doors away from a working sawmill. Pottery, weaving and stained-glass studios are interspersed with a homeless shelter and a small wooden chapel. The only similarity among the buildings is their functional, rough-sawn appearance.

What might look like architectural confusion, though, is both the headquarters of an award-winning social service agency dedicated to fighting rural poverty and a complex, multifaceted community. The cohesion of the place lies not in its buildings but in the vision and beliefs of Lucy Poulin, founder and director of Homeworkers Organized for More Employment.

Poulin, 68, is a former nun still known as Sister Lucy to most. She and other members of her order started h.o.m.e. in 1970 as a craft store to provide local women with a place to sell their patchwork quilts. Thirty-seven years later, the organization has evolved into a provider of basic needs for many of the poorest people in Hancock County. The group runs five shelters around the county and has built 50 houses for low-income residents. Other programs provide people with firewood, food, medical care and low-cost auto repair.

More than a collection of social services, h.o.m.e. is an effort to build a cooperative community according to Christian principles, Poulin said.

"We try to be a welcoming community for people who are left out in our society," said Poulin. "We help people heal and become who God is calling them to be."

'WE'RE ALL ON AN EQUAL BASIS'

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=157498&ac=PHnws


John Ewing/Staff Photographer

Caregiver, friend often one in the same
By MEREDITH GOAD
Staff Writer Morning Sentinel

CAPE ELIZABETH -- Sometimes at night, just before bedtime, Mimi Ferris and Gregory Gulino will sit at the top of the stairs and chat for a half-hour.

They spend a lot of time together during the day, but these few quiet moments on the stairs are special. They talk about all sorts of things.

Greg has lots to say, and next to his parents, it is Ferris who hears him most clearly.

It is Ferris who has helped give him a voice.

Greg, an 18-year-old with curly brown hair and square tortoise-shell glasses, is a senior at Cape Elizabeth High School. He has a rare syndrome that years ago caused him to have several strokes, and that left him with multiple physical and developmental disabilities. He uses a walker. He communicates with the world through a combination of sign language, a laptop computer, some verbal cues, and "GregSpeak," an intuitive expressiveness that only his family and close caregivers can interpret.

Ferris, 28, is Greg's caregiver and friend. She has worked with him since he was in the eighth grade, and they have developed an extraordinarily close bond.

Greg's parents say it is Ferris' belief in their son and his ability to move forward that has allowed him to blossom into the young man he has become - a sometimes funny, sometimes shy teenager with a sweet tooth who knows how to love and laugh, and yearns to be engaged with the world.

http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/4593836.html


Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer

Friendly visits bring new life to residents of nursing home
This summary deck for the 2-col big story is going to go right here just about like this.
By TUX TURKEL
Staff Writer Portland Press Herald

Barbara Luther recently scored two tickets to the opening concert of Bruce Springsteen's 2008 tour, in Hartford, Conn. She invited her friend, Linda LeClair, to join her.

Making this plan holds special meaning for both women.

Luther lives at the Seaside Health Care nursing home in Portland and uses a wheelchair to get around. LeClair works for the U.S. Postal Service in Portland, lives nearby and doesn't drive far at night. She hasn't seen a live band since the early 1970s, when Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons came to Portland.

LeClair believes this adventure will happen, however, and that she can help make it happen. Her belief in the power of small deeds has helped Luther and other Seaside residents see that they can do more than they realized.

LeClair reaches out daily with small acts of kindness at the nursing home. She doesn't seek recognition. She said she didn't understand why her actions would attract any publicity.

Her modesty, though, belies what she has accomplished. Also hard to spot, at first, is how the power of friendship flows both ways. It is clear the residents have given LeClair a sense of purpose that is transforming her life.

LeClair comes to Seaside Health Care nearly every evening. She has been doing it for the past four years. She's not a volunteer, she'll tell you, just a visitor. Never mind that some residents mistake her for a staff member.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=157839&ac=PHnws


Doug Jones/Staff Photographer

Sacrifice separates parents from son
The boy is being raised temporarily in China while his parents build a life here.
By JOSIE HUANG
Staff Writer Portland Press Herald

Cai Xong Zhang can't think of anyone more clever, more charming, more sweet than her 2-year-old son, James.

He knows rhymes by heart, for one. He has an ear for music, too, and will solemnly sit in front of the stereo, listening for long stretches at a time.

There is that one thing he does, though, that makes her tear up each time.

"Hwei jya l ma?" he asks in Mandarin.

You coming home now?

Zhang has not seen James since he was about 3 months old. He is being raised by her sister-in-law in China, while she and her husband live in Maine, running the Stir Crazy restaurants in Portland and Scarborough.

James is smiling and pink-cheeked in photos, surrounded by relatives who give him the round-the-clock attention that Zhang would not be able to provide, working the long hours she does, seven days a week.

But, "when I think about it, it is very difficult," Zhang said forlornly on a recent afternoon, as the last of the lunch crowd paid their checks at the Scarborough restaurant.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=157978&ac=PHnws


John Patriquin/Staff Photographer

Outspoken environmentalist puts his money where his mouth is
In his fight against global warming, it seems Fred Padula's generosity is as limitless as his criticism.
By JOHN RICHARDSON
Staff Writer Portland Press Herald

Some people around Portland know Alfred "Fred" Padula for the pointed e-mails he fires at them from a computer in his energy- efficient home near Back Cove.

Padula is a prolific critic, a nag even, of local institutions and bureaucracies that he believes are not doing enough to fight global warming. And not many escape that list.

But other people know a different, more private, man. That's the Padula who volunteers to help people make their homes more energy-efficient and donates untold thousands of dollars for things like solar panels on school buildings, climate education programs, and library collections on global warming and energy conservation.

Padula, a retired history professor, is not a politician or a celebrity. You've probably never heard of him.

But when it comes to believing that the world is hurling itself toward a climate catastrophe, and that one man can make a difference, Al Gore has nothing on Fred Padula. And Padula's passion is quietly making a mark in his small corner of the world, whether it's because of his griping or his generosity.

He's called a catalyst, a change agent and an unsung hero. He gives a more humble assessment.

"I'm an environmental gadfly," Padula says with a grin.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=158277&ac=PHnws


Jack Milton/Staff Photographer