A longstanding Bangor recovery center is getting closer to reopening after receiving a $50,000 donation from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation, the center’s board president exclusively told the Bangor Daily News on Monday.
The Together Place Peer Run Recovery Center, which serves community members struggling with mental illness and addiction, has now raised $205,000 of the $220,000 it needs to reopen after closing its drop-in center and meals program at the end of July, according to board president Shea Mullaney.
Leaders at the center have said the resources at its drop-in center are a key part of mitigating the effects of Bangor’s homelessness crisis. Some city officials have noted an uptick in people panhandling outside businesses, gathering in parks and openly using drugs in the month since the Together Place shuttered.
The Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation, established in 1986 by Maine’s most famous literary couple, awards millions in grants to Maine-based organizations each year for “projects that address the underlying causes of social and environmental problems,” according to its website.
The foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The center at 2 Second St. was previously open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and provided low-cost hot lunches and a slate of recovery support groups for between 20 and 50 people a day, according to the organization.
The Together Place has a pending request with the city to bridge the gap between the money it’s raised and what it needs to reopen using opioid settlement funds. That gap was about $64,000 when the council last discussed the funding request in a meeting, but it’s now $15,000.
“Once we hit that [$220,000], then we will be reopening the doors, starting to deliver our services right away, including those all important public restrooms,” Mullaney said.
Once the center restarts its daytime drop-in center and daily hot meals, its leaders will get to work on sustainability and “making sure that we are never in this position again,” he added.
About 150 individuals and organizations have donated to the Together Place’s reopening efforts, according to Mullaney.
“We are tremendously grateful to all the members of the community who have stepped forward. It’s been overwhelming,” he said.
The council is set to revisit its consideration of funding the Together Place at a committee meeting on Sept. 9. The group’s discussions have sparked concerns about the nonprofit’s financial viability and whether it’s the city’s responsibility to support it. The council appears divided on the matter.