WALDO, Maine — The Waldo County Woodshed is having a busy winter season, with no slowdown in sight.
The people behind the new wood bank, which aims to give firewood to area folks who need help staying warm this winter, have been able to purchase more than eight cords of seasoned, tree-length wood from a Morrill man who sold it to them for about half its market value.
The $120 per cord price tag was a blessing, according to Dawn Caswell, a woodshed volunteer and the general manager of Maine Grilling Woods in Waldo. She said that plans are on to have woodsmen crews from both the University of Maine and Unity College come to her business on Saturday and donate their time and expertise to process all those logs into firewood.
“They said they want to volunteer,” Caswell said, adding there has been a lot of that kind of spirit in the month or so that the nonprofit wood bank has been up and running.
She said the father of the first family who received a gift of seasoned firewood has helped out the woodshed group by using his truck to make two wood deliveries to other families.
“He’s been kind enough to pay it forward,” she said. “It makes me want to cry. It makes me happy.”
Something else that has made her happy is the way the community has rallied to help financially, too. An artisan from Frankfort, Sonja Twombly, started a fundraiser with some other crafters this week and they donated $320 to the wood bank.
“It’s a great start,” Caswell said.
Other folks have promised to give the group five cords of green wood that will be ready to donate for next year. The wood bank group wants to have 100 cords of wood to give away next winter. A recent flurry of media attention has also generated more calls for wood this winter, Caswell said.
“We have nine or ten people on our list. We’re not going to be able to help them until Monday or Tuesday,” she said. “That wood is going to go very quickly. Wood donations would be awesome now. Financial donations would also be awesome.”
People have been stepping forward to help in other creative ways, too. A woman from Belfast is going to deliver hot soup and freshly-baked brownies to the wood processing crew over the weekend, Caswell said. Also, a local truck driver who has a big grapple hook said he can go to the Morrill property to hunt for the logs they are purchasing. The deep snow this winter has made it challenging to get to the firewood, Caswell said, and the continuing deep freeze means the nonprofit’s work has to continue.
“The family I’m delivering to today is in a tough situation,” she said. “Eight children and not enough oil to heat the house.”
In the near future, the group will be looking for volunteers to help stack and deliver the firewood. And this weekend’s volunteer crew looks forward to helping.
“The students were so excited at the chance to volunteer,” said Jessica Leahy, an associate professor in the University of Maine School of Forest Resources who advises the Woodmen’s Team. “Students today care about making a difference. The Woodmen’s Team trains nearly every day on their logging sports skills, so the chance to come down and work up some wood while helping others was the perfect fit for them.”
Donations can be sent to Waldo County Wood Bank, P.O. Box 401, Belfast, Maine 04915. For more information, call 338-4377 or visit waldocountywoodshed.org.