Days after a railroad company dismantled Bangor’s largest homeless encampment, volunteers for a nonprofit started this winter handed out food and gift bags with clothes to people coming from warming shelters on Christmas.
The founder of No More Homeless Fathers Project, Nate Fields, put together 50 bags of hats, socks, hand warmers and sanitizing wipes and brought chili, dirty rice and cornbread to Bangor’s riverfront on Thursday.
The encampment on railroad company CSX’s tracks below Washington Street once held more than 40 people and the remaining were forced to leave Monday morning.
The location, items and food were based on Fields’ experience being homeless on Christmas in the area for years.
“I know what it feels like to not have a good Christmas and it sucks,” he said.
Being homeless as a single father pushed Fields, 32, to create the No More Homeless Father Project.
Fields, originally from Georgia, was living in his car the past few years with his son, who is now 7, while trying to find housing. There were fewer options for him to get a voucher or go to a shelter because he’s a single father, he said.
“There’s barely any sources out there for men,” he said.
Now in housing he found last year through the help of the Home Inc. shelter in Hancock County, he wants to use his organization to help people in situations like he was in.
Meetings on Jan. 6 and 8 will kick off a men and fathers anonymous group where men can talk about their struggles and help each other, Fields said. The first meeting will be in person and the second will be on Zoom.
Fields is still looking for a place to host the event along with a fatherhood gala on Feb. 20.
He also plans to open two transitional houses but is focused on providing stability through events and services before those would open, Fields said.
Amy Smith, the primary housing director at the Home Inc. and the person who helped Fields find somewhere to live, handed out food and bags Thursday while asking people about their housing and what they could do next.
Multiple people who came to get food and a bag said they were thankful for the information along with the socks and gloves because theirs have been getting wet and cold from walking in the unplowed snow.
Joe Johnson, one of the people to grab chili, a blanket and a bag, said he doesn’t see events like this often and wants to hold similar ones when he’s able to.
“It’s very nice for anybody to do this. When I get back on my feet, I’d like to do the same,” he said.
Johnson was recently living in a tent in his sister’s backyard, but it was ripped apart in recent wind storms and can’t withstand snow, he said. Now, he’s trying to find more stable housing while living in “place to place.”
Bangor City Councilor Angela Walker also attended the event, handing out larger bags to people who couldn’t carry everything they were given.
Fields told her about the event at a City Council meeting, she said, which influenced her to come and see if she could lend a hand.
“There’s never enough help for our friends outside,” she said.