Check out their website:  https://www.umeconomicministry.com/

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Information for Teams:

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During your stay, please keep in mind that mission is not about sympathy and pity.  Loving and serving quickly replace sympathy when there is personal contact.  Come to learn, to love, and to understand our people.  Mission is more effective where there are faces and names connected.

 

Your work here serves as a bridge between dreams and reality for the people of this isolated area.  Many of these people lack the resources to repair a leaky roof, rotting steps and porches, loose windows or peeling paint.  Some  lack running water.  Your participation in this mission program helps to make their dreams possible.  There are also opportunities to work at our Salem or Solon sites so that we are able to maintain our properties and continue our programs all through the year. 

 

The attitude your team brings with you will affect the experience you have.  We want you to have fun and enjoy your experience with us. However we are not a summer camp where we supervise your every activity, nor is recreation a priority.  We do encourage you to plan for some fun.  We can provide maps and directions for a variety of experiences, moose drives, swimming spots, sightseeing and other local attractions.

 

We offer you a chance to learn by serving.  Learning comes in many forms through good times and bad, joys and frustrations, success and failure, questions and answers, trusting and giving of yourself.  We don’t plan a painful or frustrating experience but sometimes it happens.  Heat, rain, the families you are working with, the food and the facility all contribute to your experiences.  We hope that you will see the good and bad as opportunities for all of us to learn about the community and ourselves.

 

We have a variety of projects each year.  We focus on helping the elderly, handicapped, low income, and single parent homes who lack the resources to repair and maintain their homes.  Safety issues are the first priority.  Before your arrival a team has interviewed prospective clients and made a project plan for each site. 

 

All team members will need to be prepared to abide by our Covenant and the Safe and Holy space procedure, please discuss these in advance of your trip.

 

Wednesday is a Community potluck dinner at 6 p.m.  You are asked to host your project families and invite any other community people you wish.  Be aware that families may need help with transportation and may not be able to contribute to the meal.  Therefore, your role as host will need to be stressed.  UMEM provides hamburgers, hotdogs and rolls for the dinner.

 

The Bunkhouse provides sleeping quarters for up to 24 people.  It also includes 5 bathrooms, 3 showers and gathering space.  The Apartment has cooking and eating space and 1 additional bathrooms and shower. 

 

Teams work Monday through Friday usually from 8:00 to 4:30.

 

Maine State law prohibits anyone under the age of 18 to use any power driven tools or equipment and doing any roofing operations. It also prohibits any person under the age of 16 on ladders, scaffolding or their substitutes. If you have younger team members please be sure your have made them aware of this prior to your arrival.

  

Remember to bring a sleeping bag or bed linens, pillow, towels, personal care items, medications, bible, work clothes, work shoes, gloves, raingear, swimwear, flashlight, camera, hat, sunscreen, insect repellent, work gloves and safety glasses. Closed toe shoes are required at worksites.

 

Do NOT bring pets, alcoholic beverages, illegal drugs, firearms, fireworks, or weapons.  We do not have laundry facilities on site.  Laundromats are located in Strong and Kingfield, either one is about 8 miles from UMEM.

 

UMEM has a small collection of basic hand tools.  Bring your favorite tools you never know what you might need.

 

To ensure sensitivity to the families we serve, videotaping and taking of photos is restricted.  They will only be allowed with the permission of the client and the work supervisor.  No photo or video will be posted to the web or circulated by electronic means without the written permission of the client and UMEM.  

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