Transcription of Mark Carter for the show World Wellness, #119
Dr. Lisa: People in Maine are a generous group. I know having worked with Safe Passage, the organization that educates children in Guatemala. I know that we do a lot of work with education; we also do a lot of work with caring for people in other countries in the medical field.
Mark Carter from Neighbors First is going to talk to us today about work that he’s been doing which really is about construction and architecture. Really creating places for people to live in countries such as Colombia and other parts of Central and South America, but he also works right in Maine.
Thanks for coming in Mark and talking to us today.
Mark: Thanks for having me.
Dr. Lisa: Mark this idea of Neighbors First is intriguing because I know a lot of people will think about, well I’d like to give to somebody in another country because I know they don’t have much. You specifically called your organization Neighbors First. Why did you do that?
Mark: Neighbors are both near and far. We’re a Christian organization, non-profit corporation and the description of neighbors in the bible is someone in need, so we called it Neighbors First. Because we’re helping those in great need with construction related help.
Dr. Lisa: Your background is as an architect and you lived in Southern Maine for a number of years, before moving back up to your native Presque Isle. That was a bit of a journey?
Mark: It was, big change.
Dr. Lisa: Why did you decide on architecture?
Mark: In high school, my summers were spent on the construction site, most people in Northern Maine work a lot and that was no exception for me. Both on potato farms when I was young and during high school I worked construction for different contractors and really got hooked on building. I thought I wanted to do something a little bit even more, so went into the design area. My first job was right here in Portland, right around the corner on Exchange Street. This was a nostalgic walk for me this morning, like I was going to work 20 years ago.
Dr. Lisa: Your wife Debbie is also from Northern Maine?
Mark: Yes, both from Presque Isle.
Dr. Lisa: How did you meet?
Mark: We met in high school actually. Classic high school sweetheart story, then we went off to college in separate ways. Then when we graduated we were married and settled right here in Portland.
Dr. Lisa: You told me a story about something that really caused you to think about your life and where you wanted to live and what you wanted to be doing with yourself. I think our listeners would be interested in that.
Mark: Some 25 years ago or so I was asked to go to Mexico with a group that was going to be constructing a medical clinic. They wanted me along for my design and building expertise. I agreed to that not knowing really what I was going to see or experience in Mexico. After several trips beyond that I found myself in a migrant worker camp in Mexico, which the housing conditions were much more like a cattle farm than it was like human housing. I think that influenced me a lot and it caused me to think that perhaps the way I was living and what I was doing had a little excess to it.
We pulled up routes, I felt God was telling us to move and get rid of the things we had here in Portland and move back to Northern Maine for some reason, weren’t entirely sure. Many of our families and friends thought we were somewhat crazy for doing that, but we did it anyway. It’s been good; it was a great place to raise our three children and perhaps Neighbors First as an outgrowth of that move and big change in our lives.
Dr. Lisa: How did Debbie feel about that?
Mark: When we first talked about moving North that wasn’t very popular, but soon after she understood that was a call that we were supposed to do. It’s been there ever since, our families are both from Presque Isle and we have a lot of friends there, but we still keep contact with our really good friends in Portland. It’s nice to have friends all across Maine, in fact we still serve together in Central and South America when we go, we have friends from Southern Maine that join us on our teams. It’s been good to have the experience throughout Maine.
Dr. Lisa: Faith has been a very big part of your life, your family’s life and how it is that you’ve chosen to live. Tell me about that; is this something that started when you were younger?
Mark: Not very young. I had little to do with anything of faith until the age of 18. At that point I was not sure what to do with life as many 18 year olds would probably have that same experience. Made a decision to put God first in my life and from then on I made an effort to follow Christ wherever he wants me to go and that means helping people. Because there’s this common theme throughout the bible that says that we’re to help anybody that has need, the poor, the widows and the orphans.
Because of that many men that I’ve known over the years were like minded with this concept and so we formed Neighbors First. It has a big influence on myself; the way we live, the way we give, the way we’ve raised our children. It has been a life pattern and we want to honor god with what we do.
Dr. Lisa: What I hear from you really is about the, not only honoring of God but also honoring fellow human beings and really understanding them and having compassion for them. In a way that is open and giving as a neighbor to a neighbor.
Mark: That’s right. We enjoy helping people; we were just this past weekend re-roofing a family’s home in Caribou. My team of guys were all working on the roof and the young lady of the home came out and spoke to me and said, you guys don’t seem like you’re working, you seem like you’re having more fun than you are working. I said, well that’s truly the case. We thoroughly enjoy helping other people and we have a great time doing it and we just want to go out to people with a little bit of help.
Construction help is all very temporary and I keep telling my volunteers and our board, that it’s really not about projects even though we’re project orientated. It’s about people. The construction part will only last a short time, but bringing some hope to people is what we’re trying to do.
Dr. Lisa: What has it been like to try to identify the people in Presque Isle or around Presque Isle, in parts of Maine that might need your assistance?
Mark: A little different than in Central and South America. When you travel to developing countries and see the need, the questions about the need are not so varied, they’re pretty obvious. In North America it’s a little more difficult to determine, what’s need and what’s want. We work hard with that and that’s why we partner with a local church on all of our projects, whether they’re international or local. We want to have a local church involved, because they’re the inside of their own neighborhoods, their own areas, the people who really have need.
We connect with them and say look, if you have recognized a need, we’ll partner with you and you can provide some help and we’ll provide our help and we’ll get it done together. That way when Neighbors First is finished with the construction related project, the continuity will be there. We charge our partners with, follow up with people, see if there’s anything else that they really need. Or encourage them and that way it’s just not a onetime thing.
Dr. Lisa: What type of people are in need of help? What type of projects do you help them with?
Mark: Central and South America projects are a little different than the Northern Maine projects that we’ve worked on. In Northern Maine we’ve tended to do a lot of roofs for widows and some access projects for widows. We’ve had to provide homes for people that have great need. We were made aware of a widow over in Maine a few years ago that was living in, literally a shack. I’d been to a lot of different poor areas in several countries but this rivaled them all and it was right in our back yard. Before the building fell down around her, we provided a home and set her up for that.
Those projects are varied. In Central and South America it ranges from building a whole new building, which we’ve done several times. We’ve done orphanage dormitories and churches and homes. We currently have a project ongoing program for providing concrete floors for people living on dirt floors in Central America. People donate £250 and people volunteer their time and money to go and put in these floors and that’s had a great impact on these families to get this, what we take for granted as a decent floor that you keep clean.
Dr. Lisa: That seems like, in the grand scheme of things not that much money in order to give somebody something that seems fairly basic. $250 gives you a floor.
Mark: It’s very true. I think people would be surprised at how far a small amount of money will go in a developing country. We’ve built entire buildings for 17 or $18,000, where here it would be $250,000. Because there’s a lot of labor and there’s a lot of willingness to build what they need, but they don’t have the funds and there’s no way to get them. They’re living day to day; most people we’re working with in these countries are making $2, $3 a day. There’s no way they can build onto their home or even provide themselves a concrete floor. Out of our excess we can give just a little and make a huge difference for someone.
Dr. Lisa: What do you find happens when you provide somebody with a floor? If you’re starting with somebody who has very little, they have a dirt floor. You give them a concrete floor. What does this do for their emotional and mental wellbeing and their view of themselves?
Mark: It’s a big boost for them. Something as simple as a concrete floor; it’s hard for us to relate to living on a dirt floor because we just don’t do that. There are chickens and animals wondering in and out of their homes and their children have to sleep on the ground. Something as simple as a concrete floor that they can sweep and keep clean, along with the concrete floor we provide a gate for the opening to the home. The home is usually made up of sticks with a thatched roof and we provide gate and a little bit of instruction. That says, just keep the gate closed and keep the chickens and the pigs out of the house and the keep the floor clean.
It gives the housewife a very big boost, they’re absolutely thrilled. Because no longer are they sweeping the dirt floor which we see all the time, with their homemade brooms. They’re keeping their concrete floors clean and it just makes a big difference, good for their self esteem and gives them a little bit of hope that they’ve made a little progress and they can provide for their family a little bit. It’s a win, win all the way round.
Dr. Lisa: I met you at the Maine Home and Design Show this last June. You were there as an architect but also as the founder of Neighbors First. It must be an interesting contrast for you to be working as an architect, designing homes for people who have; I would assume more money than the people that you’re designing homes for, down in Central and South America. What is that like?
Mark: I’ve often told people that my profession, I’m an architect by profession is really just a way to support my full-time habit, which is my faith and helping others. Not that I discount my profession, I love my profession and enjoy it very much, but it is a means to help others. I use the things I’ve learned over the years to help design very simple, but very effective structures. Also to assist our volunteers and how they can help, even though they’re not skilled constructions workers, they can all help. My years of experience with construction has helped with that.
We have two building contractors on our board as well, so they’re great organizers and teachers as well.
Dr. Lisa: Many people these days are moving away from the county, or have been moving away from the county. You moved back and you were able to live happily with your wife Debbie and also with your kids Gillian, Nathan and Alex. It seems to me and having spoken to people who live in the county, that there is a quality of life that’s different than perhaps other parts of the State.
Mark: That’s generally true. I think most people are from the county recognize that, it’s a little bit … and even people that visit Rooster County and stay for a decent amount of time will recognize that. That there’s a very good work ethic there and there’s a good community feeling that people feel like they belong. We’re a bit remote from many people’s standards, but you get used to that and yes we complain about it sometimes, that it takes forever to get any place.
Overall it is a very good place to live and it’s a great place to raise a family. It’s a good place to have roots, even a lot of the people that have moved away from Rooster County maintain their connection there and return and I think their roots are always pretty strong for the county folks.
Dr. Lisa: You have three children and two of them have been influenced to do work in their own lives. It has something to do with the work that you’ve exposed them to through Neighbors First.
Mark: Actually, all three of them have very compassionate hearts and that is something that my wife and I are very proud of. I think our kids are just doing great and my daughter Gillian is a teacher and not a just teacher. Of course she wants to teach the kids that are having difficulties, so she specialized in special needs education. Now she’s at home with three little kids, so that’s a big challenge on its own, but she just has a heart for kids that have a little bit of a hard time. That compassion I think, I hope has been something that’s rubbed off on her.
My two boys they are both going into prosthetics and orthotics. One is in residency and the other will be entering his Masters program next year. Both chose those professions because they wanted to help. They wanted to help people and they wanted to bring that skill to developing countries to assist in a Christian mission as well. They both have a great heart and they work with other organizations as well. We’re very proud that they’re that compassion and hoping that care rubbed off from the way we live.
People know me not as a person that has a lot to say; I’m a fairly quiet guy. I believe that actions speak louder than words and a lot more is caught than taught. Hopefully the example that we set for our children, will continue on to the next generation and also the example we’re trying to set as an organization, Neighbors First to motivate people to help others.
Dr. Lisa: If you’re a man of not many words, it must have been an interesting thing for you to consider coming on our radio show?
Mark: Indeed, I probably used up all of my words for the day and I’ll be very quiet for the rest of the day. It’s good that I’m driving home alone.
Dr. Lisa: Mark, what can people do to help out Neighbors First?
Mark: Neighbors First is 100% volunteer and 100% donation based. The monies that people donate to Neighbors First are used to buy building materials and people donate their time and their money to pay for their own tickets or their own expenses, to go with us on project trips. If people are interested in helping, obviously they can look on our website and see the type of projects we’ve been doing and understand more about how we work.
Of course donations make the work happen, if we had more donations we could do more work, so that’s the equation. We’re always looking for people to partner with us and even the smallest of donations like I’ve been talking about. Even very small donations go a long ways; we put that money right to work.
Dr. Lisa: What is your website?
Mark: It is neighborsfirst.org.
Dr. Lisa: Mark I’m really thrilled to have spent time with somebody who is as you said, living the life that you hope your children would live and providing an example to people. That we can help our neighbors, whether they’re neighbors here or whether they’re neighbors overseas.
I appreciate you driving the what is it; five, six hours.
Mark: Yeah, four and half. We’ll keep it to four and a half.
Dr. Lisa: Four and half hours down from Presque Isle to have a conversation with me about Neighbors First and I hope that people who are listening take their time to go to your website. Think about donating, possibly helping out in some way and really getting involved in a way that helps them; helps you with the compassionate work that you’ve been doing. Thanks for coming in.
We’ve been speaking with Mark Carter, founder and President of Neighbors First.
Mark: Thanks for having me.
Dr. Lisa: You have been listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and podcast, show number 119; world wellness. Our guests have included Dr. Nathan Nickerson and Mark Carter.
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This is Dr. Lisa Belisle, I hope that you have enjoyed our world wellness show. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your day. May you have a bountiful life.