MILLINOCKET, Maine — He’s a Washington, D.C. resident who last lived in Millinocket about 22 years ago, but Sean DeWitt still wants to help his hometown, he said Tuesday.
That’s why the 39-year-old created a website, ourkatahdin.com, which raised $130 more than its $2,000 goal in just 72 hours to buy new banners for street utility poles in downtown Millinocket. It’s among several projects that two groups of volunteers — the other led by town resident Amy Collinsworth — want to do for all towns in the Katahdin region. It’s the second project DeWitt’s group has completed.
“I think people are ready for solutions,” DeWitt said Tuesday. “Everyone understands that these [completed projects] are small wins. These are the baby steps that we need to take before we can take on the big problems.”
DeWitt’s efforts predate a report from a Virginia-based volunteer economic development consultant released by Millinocket officials Jan. 12, which said the town needs to do more to beautify itself in order to improve its economy. His group’s first project, which intended to raise $522 and garnered $655, paid for Christmas decorations that went on the town’s Penobscot Avenue bandstand and several abandoned downtown storefronts in December.
But the banners fundraiser, which was posted at ourkatahdin.com on Jan. 14 and was started by the Millinocket Downtown Revitalization Committee, might have been boosted by the letter from CZB Associates of Alexandria, Collinsworth said.
The letter, she said, created “a snowball effect” that has aided her volunteer effort — alumni basketball games that raised about $1,400 for the athletic programs of Schenck and Stearns high schools — and probably helped DeWitt raise money so quickly.
“It gave everybody a harsh reality,” Collinsworth said Tuesday. “To actually have an outsider come in and take the effort to say, ‘You guys need to step up or you are not going to survive’ — I think something was sparked by them doing that.”
The vinyl banners fall very much in line with CZB’s recommendations. They are being designed by local art gallery owner and MDRC Banner committee chairwoman Marsha Donahue. The banners will feature artistic renderings of the connections between the Katahdin region communities, mountains and forests and are intended to give the downtown a more colorful and welcome appearance. They are due to be finished by March 1 and installed by May 1, according to ourkatahdin.com.
Collinsworth’s group wants to beautify and add equipment to the Crest Hill and Pamola Park playgrounds this spring and is considering adding a skate park and a dog park to the region and will be meeting soon with volunteer grant writers, she said.
Several of DeWitt’s group members plan to meet East Millinocket and Medway selectmen next week to offer their services. They also are applying for federal nonprofit status, he said.
Much of the attraction of volunteering for the groups is that many who left the region did so almost unwillingly, according to Our Katahdin member and Glenburn resident Mike Seile.
“Everyone who grew up in that region saw the transition from the paper industry in the 1970s and prepared their children with a good education to find jobs in other industries,” the Millinocket native said. “I think that’s because we still continue to call it home and have a passion for that region. When I talk to people, I like to say it’s time for us to give back what we have been given.”
Anyone interested in joining either group can visit ourkatahdin.com or Collinsworth’s group Facebook page, “ There Ain’t No ‘Mill’ In Ocket.” Her group has 55 members while DeWitt’s group has 215 people registered on its website and 1,130 on his group’s Facebook page.
Both groups are finding support. Millinocket’s Town Council honored the bandstand effort with a proclamation late last month, DeWitt said. At the suggestion of Town Councilor Jimmy Busque, Collinsworth will meet next week with regional recreational department workers. DeWitt has already met informally with some Medway selectmen, he said.
“I am very proud of Millinocket for stepping up and realizing the need to move forward, and I am very excited to see what is to come in the next few years,” Collinsworth said. “I know we have a lot of talented and dedicated people. Change is definitely in the air.”
The CZB letter also is helping, DeWitt said.
“We are going through it with two different highlighters, to see what are things we can address and what are things that really rely more on local government,” DeWitt said.