CHERRYFIELD, Maine — Last year at this time, the Jackson family of Harrington was embarrassed to have anyone over because of the deteriorated condition of their home.
“We were literally falling through our floor. … We had to block off one of our bathrooms because we couldn’t use it,” Scott Jackson said. “We had septic problems … it was horrible.”
All that is behind them now, thanks to the Maine Sea Coast Mission.
Today, the family of three lives in a separate refurbished mobile home on a private lot in Cherryfield. They received the home through the mission’s mobile home rehabilitation project, a pilot program that evolved from the organization’s housing repair program.
The Jacksons said the mission’s mobile home program is an answer to their prayers.
Described in an ad as a “self-help ownership opportunity,” the mobile home rehabilitation project offers a local family the chance to help refurbish a home and move into it. In exchange for 100 hours of what mission housing repair coordinator Scott Shaw calls “sweat equity,” the family gets to keep the home free, no strings attached, once the repairs are complete. The number of hours they are asked to give is based on what other groups, such as Habitat for Humanity, require of their clients.
The idea for the mobile home project came about after Shaw found a 1992 trailer for $5,000. He thought it could be used to help someone.
“We really try to find the people falling through the cracks,” Shaw said.
“Seeing what some of these people are living in is ridiculous,” he said. “It’s pretty sad some of the situations out there because there’s no affordable housing in Washington County.”
Shaw and his supervisor, Wendy Harrington, will choose a family to participate in this year’s project with the help of Priscilla Hukki, a minister from Ellsworth.
Hukki is a mission volunteer chosen specifically because she is not from the same area as the applicants.
“She doesn’t have the connection to the families. She’s not biased in any way,” Harrington said.
A field of six original applicants has been narrowed to two because four applicants were more suited to the home repair program, Shaw said. The decision of who will be selected to get the mobile home will be made by May 8.
In order to qualify, applicants must be low income and either own a mobile home or a mobile home site in Harrington, Cherryfield or Milbridge. The small geographic area was chosen to help narrow the field of applicants, Shaw said.
“We had no idea how many families were going to apply,” Shaw said.
Income and need each make up approximately 40 percent of the judging criteria. Need is defined as the condition of the existing home and whether there are extenuating circumstances, such as high medical bills. The remaining 20 percent is based on how involved the family is in the community.
“We chose this family [the Jacksons] because of their willingness to work with us,” said Harrington.
Scott and Ida Jackson said they were happy to help because they were so grateful.
“Whatever they asked of us, we tried to do,” said Ida Jackson, who works full time as a pharmacy technician in Machias. Because they weren’t skilled laborers, the couple and their daughter, Gabrielle, a University of Maine at Machias student, did simpler tasks during the rehabilitation, such as painting on the weekends or in the evenings after work or school.
“We live paycheck to paycheck,” said Scott Jackson, who works full time with autistic children in Ellsworth. “It felt very hopeless.”
The family had less than a year to pay on the mortgage on their mobile home and hoped they could afford repairs when it was paid off. They had no intention of asking for help.
“We are very independent people and to have to depend on someone else was not our cup of tea,” Scott Jackson said.
But members of their church, the First Baptist Church in Harrington, noticed the Jacksons never invited anyone over. Several members of the congregation made a surprise visit to the Jackson home in Harrington where they were quickly able to see the need.
“I was embarrassed,” Ida Jackson said.
Because the church was not in a position to finance repairs, members suggested the Jacksons apply to the mission’s housing repair program.
“Initially, we were looking at getting a door replaced on our trailer,” Scott Jackson said.
The mission sent a carpenter to the Jackson home to survey the need for repairs.
Because the list was so extensive, Shaw talked to the Jacksons about the pilot mobile home program.
“I was apprehensive because I thought it was going to cost us,” Ida Jackson said.
Shaw repeatedly reassured the family that the program was free. All that was required was the family members volunteer their time to help with repairs.
Other volunteers, most of whom are on church-affiliated mission trips, come from all over New England and the mid-Atlantic, and usually stay and work for a week, Shaw said. In addition to paying for his or her own trip, each volunteer brings $175 to contribute toward the cost of the either the mobile home or housing repair projects.
About 200 volunteers worked on the mobile home project, which cost a total of about $26,500, Harrington said.
Funding also comes from other donations and assistance from area businesses that give a break on the prices for their services.
Harrington praised Ellsworth Building Supply for being one of the program’s best business partners.
Repairs to the trailer the Jacksons took over included a new roof, insulation and a whole new interior, including new flooring, fixtures and cabinets, Shaw said.
“It’s actually more efficient than when it was new,” Shaw said. In fact, the Jacksons reported they spent about $2,000 to heat their original trailer last year. This year, they had just over $1,000 in heating costs. The heating system in the new trailer uses propane where the Jacksons had been using kerosene, they said.
The Jacksons continued to live in their original trailer while the new one was being refurbished. Shaw said the mission found a lot for the new trailer and poured a foundation for it. The family moved in Oct. 25 after repairs were completed.
“It didn’t feel real,” Ida Jackson said. “I cried because of leaving our home of 20 years, despite the state it was in.”
Gabrielle and Scott Jackson were less sentimental. They stayed up late the night before, just hoping the move would actually take place, they said.
Scott and Ida Jackson donated their original trailer for the next mission project to help another family.
“It’s going to make somebody a good home. It just needs a thorough makeover, just like this one,” Ida Jackson said.
Shaw said this year things won’t work exactly the way they did with the Jacksons.
“We’re finding each case is going to be completely different,” he said.
For example, both of the families currently in the running for this year’s program have mobile homes that date to the 1970s and are not suitable for refurbishing. So the chosen family will not be donating the old trailer.
For the following year, the mission will need another trailer.
Harrington said the organization would gladly accept the donation of a trailer in good enough shape to be refurbished.
For information on the project or to make a donation, call Shaw at 546-5869 or email sshaw@seacoastmission.org. Donations can be sent to Housing Repair Program, Maine Sea Coast Mission, 127 West St., Bar Harbor, ME 04609. Those who would like to help also are invited to donate online.
“We could possibly do 100 mobile homes a year and we wouldn’t even scratch the surface of the need here,” Harrington said.