SEARSMONT, Maine — A local church is putting on a benefit dinner and auction Saturday evening in hopes of helping a parishioner who has been going through an unusually difficult period.
Bob Perol, who is raising his teenage son after his wife left him, just lost everything including the family dog in a fire last Sunday that consumed the mobile home he was renting, according to Pastor Peter Sheff of the Abundant Grace Ministry. Fortunately, Both Perol and his son Cody were away when the fire struck.
Perol moved to Maine seven years ago to buy his dream farm in Troy where he raised chickens, cattle and made cheese, according to Sheff.
Things were going well and Perol was becoming well known at farmers markets along the coast when things began to unravel, Sheff wrote Friday in an email to the Bangor Daily News.
“First his wife left him,” Sheff wrote. “This necessitated the sale of a portion of the farm to settle the divorce. Shortly after this a cow stepped on Bob’s foot which became infected and caused the loss of his leg. A few months later his farm went into foreclosure.”
Then Perol and his son had found a mobile home to rent and were preparing to spend the winter in it when the fire destroyed all their possessions, according to Sheff.
“Throughout all these challenges Bob has remained optimistic, believing that God has a plan and it will all one day work out,” the pastor wrote. “Bob does not believe in government assistance and feels as long as he has a good mind and one good leg he can still support himself and his son.”
Sheff indicated that Perol’s sole source of income over the past several months has been derived from driving members of the Amish community in the Unity area to needed destinations.
He said Perol and his son are currently living with fellow members of the church, but that the goal of the benefit event on Saturday is to raise $3,000 to pay rent on a home for the two for the winter.
The benefit at the Abundant Grace Ministry will begin at 5 p.m. at the church at 3 Brierly Road in Searsmont. There is no charge to attend, but donations will be accepted for the event which will include dinner, an auction and music.
For more information or to donate if unable to attend, contact Sheff at 948 7575 or via email at abundant@uninet.net.