Transcription of Dreams, #67
Speaker 1: You’re listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast recorded at the studios of Maine Magazine in Portland, Maine. Summaries of all our past shows can be found at doctorlisa.org. Become a subscribe of Dr. Lisa Belisle on iTunes. See the Dr. Lisa website or Facebook page for details.
Speaker 1: The Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast is made possible with the support of the following generous sponsors. Maine Magazine, Mike LePage and Beth Franklin at RE/MAX Heritage, Robin Hodgskin at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Sea Bags, Dr. John Herzog of Orthopedic Specialists in Falmouth, Maine, Booth Maine, Tom Shepard of Shepard Financial, Apothecary by Design and The Body Architect.
Lisa: This is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you are listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast show number 67, Dreams. Here in for the first time on December 23, 2012 on WLOB and WPEI Radio Portland, Maine. What are your wishes and dreams? This week, we feature Maine dreamers and dream makers who remind us that dreams really can come true and show us how we might help with community wish granting this holiday season.
Today, our conversations take place with Tom Peaco, executive director of Make-A-Wish Maine and Fournier Wish Family, Midcoast Habitat for Humanity president, Vicki Doudera, and associate publisher of Maine Magazine and Maine Home Design, Steve Kelly.
We know that for many of you, this has become a challenging time of the year given recent events in Connecticut and we certainly don’t mean to minimize what happened in Connecticut with as how called dreams. As we know that dreams that have been shattered and families in that region. Instead, what we hope to do is put forth the knowledge that there are good people in this world. There is hope and there are ways that you can contribute and make other people’s dreams come true.
We join you in mourning, the people who are lost in the school shooting and we join you and hoping to make change so that things like this can’t happen again, but we also urge you to take solace in the fact that there are people in this world who want to make it a better place and want to make dreams come true.
We hope you enjoy our conversations with Tom Peaco of Make-A-Wish Maine, the Fournier Wish Family, Midcoast Habitat for Humanity president, Vicki Doudera, and associate publisher of Maine Magazine and Maine Home Design, Steve Kelly.
One of the most important things we can do during the holiday season is to think about those around us and how we might make them happy and it doesn’t take much. In fact, sometimes all it takes is not presence but your presence.
If you’re having difficulty coming up with a gift for someone in your life, be it an older person or a child, keep in mind that really the best gift you can offer is the gift of yourself. As we look to greet a new year, please consider of giving yourself or a love one the gift of renewal by visiting me at the Body Architect. For more information, go to doctorlisa.org.
Lisa: The Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast really enjoys bringing people in of different ages and different personality sorts and having some fun with things that can be really kind of serious. Today, we have in the studio with us Tom Peaco who is the executive director of the Make-A-Wish Foundation here in Maine and also Alicia and Julia Fournier who, I guess, were considered Wish Families. I know Alicia you’re a wish kid so you’re a wish family and I already had a fun time talking with you this morning. I’m so happy that you’re here to tell us a little bit about Make-A-Wish.
Julie: Thank you so much for having us.
Lisa: Tom, I know that I have a lot to talk about with Alicia because she came in special today and is out of school for a little bit of time, but I’m going to start with you because I want people to know what is the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Tom: Make-A-Wish, our mission is to grant wishes to Maine children with life-threatening medical conditions. Our focus really is, not on the illness, but about creating hope, strength and joy for these kids allover Maine that are battling a life-threatening condition. The power of a Make-A-Wish experience is really impactful in long term, life long.
Lisa: Let’s go back to Alicia. Alicia, tell me what happened in your life that made it necessary for you to be a Make-A-Wish kid because not everyday gets to be a Make-A-Wish kid I guess.
Alicia: When I was three, I was diagnosed with epilepsy which is an illness that makes you have seizures. It’s really hard because I had to get out of school a lot and go to the nurses, but when I was at nine, I got my Make-A-Wish.
Lisa: Epilepsy, yeah that is a really hard thing and especially when you’re starting from when you’re really small. So you were in school and you were having seizures and you were trying to deal with this on a regular basis?
Alicia: Yeah.
Lisa: I think that I heard from somebody somewhere that you actually had some pretty significant hospitalizations and surgeries and you’ve seen a lot of doctors in your short 13 years of life right?
Alicia: Yeah. I had two brain surgeries.
Lisa: And these brain surgeries weren’t just any brain surgeries, they were like pretty, pretty good …
Julie: They were your easy average plain surgeries.
Lisa: So Julia what was that like to have a child who had two fairly significant brain surgeries when she was really little?
Julie: It actually was something that when I think about in hindsight, it blows my mind, but in the throws of the illness when they’re telling you they’re going to help your child, you’d walk around the world and back and say, let’s try it because her quality life was deteriorating so quickly. For six years we were going to Boston to Children’s Hospital and we kind of exhausted all of our avenues there and then we were lucky enough to find a team of doctors in New York City that had the exact opposite approach than what we were seeing in Boston. It was let’s find the way, let’s try this, let’s do that.
Yeah, when you hear the words brain surgery, you get very, very scared, but then you have to put your faith in something at some point. These doctors were so wonderful and humane and we had seen a lot of doctors that we couldn’t even relate to or even understand at times. These men sat us down and opened their practices and their hearts and their minds to us and we were able to put our faith in that.
In 2009, my husband and I have been on the donation side of Make-A-Wish through a very good friend of hours who had been on the board for a long term and we came to the events and supported the cause for a very long time even before we became a wish family. So we saw that side of Make-A-Wish and then when she was getting worse, the catalyst for me … I never wanted to believe my child would qualify for a wish. I had a hard time with that. The catalyst for me was John Travolta’s son and that happened and it threw me for such a loop that this is that kind of a disease and I didn’t want to admit that.
We went to Make-A-Wish and I finally swallowed enough pride and said, “Can we do this?” Then, I’ll never forget the day I got the call that said, “She qualifies.” And it was such a mixed emotion for me. I was so happy that she was going to get to have an experience, but also I was so sad that that was way we were at in life. But that was the last time I felt sad because what Make-A-Wish did for my family was they came in and we went through the interview process and they took Alicia and they just had this wonderful conversation with her about … Do you want to jump and say what …
Lisa: Yeah Alicia you started smiling.
Julie: You’re beaming over here.
Lisa: You got all excited here, so what was it like to be …
Julie: What if they come in and ask you, do you remember what your wish granters asked you?
Alicia: Yeah. They asked me what if I could have any three wishes in the world what would it be and I said, “First, to meet Zac Efron. Second, to meet Ashley Tisdale and third to go snorkeling in Hawaii.
Julie: What got happened pretty quickly after you got to make your wish? What happened?
Alicia: I got to meet Zac Efron.
Lisa: Wow. That’s pretty impressive. I think that my 11 year old would be kind of jealous if she knew that.
Julie: This was back in the throws of High School Musical and Alicia is a musical theater child, so this was so huge. What they did for us in the beginning of the process through the trip itself. Literal red carpet to the airport, limousine service, backpacks for both my kids with stuff to do on the plane and the way we were treated everywhere we went. What’s interesting for us and maybe a little bit unique was we shared our wish with five other families in the world, because what Zac Efron did was he brought six wish families to him in California and spent time very much personal time with us, but also so more kids could get the experience which was awesome.
When we got there, this family from Make-A-Wish Maine, we had our t-shirts and our folders and all of our stuff ready to go and we were so well-prepared and we spoke to other wish families from even just within this country and they were not so much ready as we were. So I felt that our chapter here in Maine was even that much over and above local chapters elsewhere because we were so prepared. It was a testament to Make-A-Wish Maine. We were very proud to be from Maine at that point.
The great thing for us was that wish. We came home, we resumed our lives and three months later, she was having her first brain surgery. We were in NYU Medical Center for weeks and that picture of her and Zac Efron sat, not on her bedside table, but on her tray that draped across her body for the entire time was Alicia and Zac Efron. Those were really, really dark days. So she would not only have that memory to carry her through those dark days, but every nurse under the age of 50 who watched in that room said, “Alicia, is that Zac Efron?” And she got to retell this experience over and over and over again. So it sort of snowballed.
What do you want to say?
Alicia: When I was meeting Zac Efron, he got a phone call and he picked it up and he is like, “Hold on,” and it was Ashley Tisdale and he put her on speaker and all the kids were like, “It’s Sharpay.” It was so cool. So technically, my second wish was half they did it.
Lisa: You got to wish for the half.
Julie: You planned for that right Tom?
Tom: That’s right.
Lisa: So Alicia, how old were you when you went through the brain surgery?
Alicia: I was 10.
Lisa: So you were in 5th grade? Yeah 5th grade. That’s kind of an interesting time anyway just to be in 5th grade and you’re at the Breakwater School?
Alicia: Mm-Hmm.
Julie: Not at the time. She was in Scarborough in public school at the time.
Lisa: How did your friends, when you told them that you were going to go meet Zac Efron? How did your friends respond?
Alicia: When I came back to school from my trip to LA, my picture was on this big TV of me and Zac Efron and all the kids were like looking at it. They saw me and they came running to tell it to me and they were like, “Alicia what was it like? What was it like to meet Zac Efron? Tell me, tell me, tell me.
Julie: We actually didn’t tell her class before we went. It happened very quickly. Celebrity greetings sometimes happen that way. It’s a different type of a wish because you’re at the mercy of others pretty much, which was what we were told, but wonderfully, ours came very quickly. So we didn’t really know what to expect and we weren’t prepared for that. Sometimes, celebrity greetings aren’t awesome and sometimes they are and sometimes they get autographs and sometimes they don’t. So we were very prepared for either direction of that, but it ended up being, of course, amazing.
I just didn’t want kids to, A, not believe her because 10 year olds would probably be like, “Whatever.” So I said, “You know, we’ll just wait till we get back and then we’ll share this with everybody,” which is her teacher I sent the photo. I emailed it to her teacher and she did have it plastered up there when Alicia came back to school.
What was cool is Make-A-Wish went to the school prior to us leaving and her teacher and her principal were able to write her personal notes about going to get her wish granted. So the school was in the know, it just her period is not so much.
Lisa: Did that change? Because I think because I have a daughter who is 11 and I think that if she was in the school and she was having seizures and she was always having to go to the doctor and always having to go to the hospital, that might make her feel kind of different. Did this kind of helped a little bit in that whole thing? Maybe you didn’t feel quite as different. Maybe you felt it different in a special way.
Alicia: Yes. That helped a lot actually.
Lisa: Did it help you feel little bit stronger as you were having to go through the surgery and another visit to a hospital?
Alicia: Yes.
Julie: It was nice to be that kid as oppose to that kid who’s always in the clinic or that kid who misses school for chunks at a time because she has to go and be in the hospital. Now, she got to be the kid and met Zac Efron and that was pretty awesome.
Lisa: Here on the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast, we’ve long recognize the link between health and wealth. Here to speak more on the topic is Tom Shepard of Shepard Financial.
Tom S.: My favorite movie to watch with my young children was Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat with Donny Osmond. The music was great and the story was entertaining. It is the theme of economics that weaves its way through the story that continues to help me teach my kids to see the world as fair over time rather than in a particular instance.
At Shepard Financial, we’ll use this notion to help manage money and teach kids about financial literacy. If I have a dream, it would be that our kids learn to read, write and do arithmetic so that they could master the fourth skill of rating and evaluating, who they are, what they know and why they are here.
If you want to engage us in a conversation about your dreams or the dreams you have for your family, give us a call at Shepard Financial, 847-4032. Our wish is that we help you evolve with your money.
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Lisa: Let’s talk to Tom a little bit because I know he is the executive director of Make-A-Wish here in Maine. He’s one of the ones who made it happen. So why is this an important thing for you to be doing in your own personal life? Why did you choose this as something that you decided to focus your job on?
Tom: I’ve been the executive director for 15 years and have loved every minute of it. As you can tell, the impact that Make-A-Wish has on people is life changing and we do that in Maine once every five days on average for granting another wish. About 70 and 75 kids a year in Maine are receiving a wish from Make-A-Wish.
Just sitting here listening to them and what you can’t see on the radio is how Alicia’s face changed from when mom was talking about the illness and the treatment to lighting up when we started talking about the wish. That is Make-A-Wish. The picture on the tray on your hospital bed, that’s Make-A-Wish. That’s really what we’re trying to do is to give that long lasting impact, so when times are tough, there is that positive thing to focus on. That’s when we talk about the power of a wish. That’s really what we’re talking about. This is so much more than a trip to California.
Lisa: So it’s not what you’re offering. Isn’t really just the physical aspect of here meet Zac Efron. Although that’s important, I think that what you’re putting out there is hope and normalcy and or specialness I guess.
Julie: Normalcy is important especially Lisa because Make-A-Wish involves the entire immediate family in the wish. So I have another child who when you have a sick child, other parts of your life and the dynamic of your family are drastically altered. So for our family of four to be able to go and do something together that was not in any way, shape or form related to a doctor or a hospital or, “I’m sorry honey, you have to stay home with your grandparents because we have to go back into the hospital with your sister.”
This was just a family four doing something awesome together because of Make-A-Wish. I’ve talked to other families who have that same experience. You get to just be a family on vacation with nothing else. I mean, yes, we always had the worry that she was going to have a seizure. Anxiety was a huge trigger for her. It was great that she was the last kid Zac saw because she had two seizures waiting for him to come over because she was so anxious, but it was okay. We were in very good company and normalcy is a huge word when you have a sick child.
Lisa: Alicia, is it a brother or sister that you have?
Alicia: A sister.
Lisa: And how old is she?
Alicia: She’s 22.
Lisa: And how did she feel about meeting Zac Efron?
Alicia: I could tell she liked it.
Lisa: I can imagine. He’s pretty cute especially for a 22 year old. Well even for somebody …
Julie: Well she was 18 at the time and I think he was 20 or 21 or something and that was a very positive experience from my older child too.
Lisa: So the whole family got to have their wish taken care of then, right at the same time.
Julie: Can I just say? He was delightful and just so giving and open to these children and we had a great time meeting other wish families as far as England and Canada and other parts of the United States. So it was one of the best experiences of all of our lives and Make-A-Wish did that for you.
Lisa: Isn’t that also fairly important because I would imagine that if you’re, again, the family or the child that is always dealing with something that’s hard and difficult and different, then it’s nice to hang out with other families and other children who have kind of the same experience.
Julie: We say it’s people who get it. Some people, there’s a lot of people that come in and out of your lives that are very empathetic I guess to what you go through, but then you meet these families who get it and it’s a different … It’s very, very different.
Lisa: I think one of the things that I’m struck by is that Tom when you and I were talking you said, “It’s not just about the families or have a child who’s terminal ill, who isn’t going to make it. It really is about children like Alicia who have long lives ahead of them and that they’re going to benefit from this on an ongoing basis as are their families.”
Tom: The impact is really, whether ultimately the child doesn’t survive or does survive, the impact on the child in the family are really life long. I think we hear so often from families and more from the medical community in recent years too about how they really believe and this Make-A-Wish experience is a part of extending the child’s life because of shifting that focus to a more positive thing. So it’s really amazing the impact that this organization has on families.
Lisa: Alicia I told you before we went on the air that this is our special Christmas, pre-Christmas show and I have a feeling that you really like Christmas.
Alicia: Yeah.
Lisa: So if you were thinking about Christmas and what you could tell people as they were getting ready for the holidays about what they might be able to do to help Make-A-Wish, what would you say?
Alicia: Money. Donate money.
Lisa: Alicia, you’re the best and I’m watching you and you’re trying to figure this out and I think you’re so right. I think people could absolutely donate money to the Make-A-Wish Foundation here in Maine.
So Tom, how do people find out about Make-A-Wish?
Tom: Well, lots of different ways. Our office is in Portland Maine at the Time and Temperature Building. So if you’re in town, feel free to stop in and see us. You can find us online at maine.wish.org. We’re very active on Facebook. If you go into Facebook and type Make-A-Wish Maine into the search, you’ll find us and we’re posting there several times a week about wishes that are happening and things that are going on with the organization. That’s a great way to keep in touch. You can contribute right online at maine.wish.org or call our office in Portland at 221-2306.
Julie: There’s a cute kid singing on the hold music on that line too.
Tom: If you get put on hold when you call our office, you’ll hear Alicia singing.
Lisa: So Alicia, what would you say to other kids that are facing hard things on their lives like the kind of hard things that you faced?
Alicia: Definitely stay strong, don’t give up and smile.
Lisa: Very good and I am so lucky to have benefited from your beautiful smile this morning and thank you so much for coming in and talking to us and getting out a little bit of school. I’ve learned a lot so I’ve had my education for this morning and I appreciate talking with you Alicia and also Julie Fournier a wish family.
Julie: Thank you so much for having us. Can I just say one more thing. Again, just wonderful impact of Make-A-Wish. When you go to their events, mostly the volunteers … I have met so many other wish parents who are now volunteers at Make-A-Wish. It’s something you never want to stop being involved in once you’ve been touched by them.
My husband is now serving on the board proudly. We help with as many events as we possibly can and it’s something that we never want. The only thing we would want is to see Make-A-Wish go out of business because it wouldn’t be needed anymore. Aside from that, we’re never going to stop helping them because of what they did for our family.
Lisa: These are very important words coming from a mom who has been in the trenches and really knows what this is all about from both sides good and bad. So thank you for coming in and spending time with me this morning and also thank you to Tom Peaco, the executive director of the Make-A-Wish Foundation here in Maine.
Tom: Thank you for having us.
Julie: Thank you Lisa.
Alicia: Thank you.
Speaker 1: This segment of the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast is brought to you by the following generous sponsors. Mike LePage and Beth Franklin of RE/MAX Heritage in Yarmouth Maine. Honesty and Integrity can take you home. With RE/MAX Heritage, it’s your move. Learn more at ourheritage.com.
Lisa: As part of the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast mission, we like to recognize that health goes beyond simply taking care of oneself and exercising and eating well, but also taking care of ones community. Today, we have with us, Vicki Doudera who’s the president of Midcoast Habitat for Humanity.
I’m a big fan of Habitat for Humanity. I definitely think that what you are doing and Habitat for Humanity in the Midcoast is doing is helping to take care of your community, so thank you for being here and spending time with us.
Vicki: Thank you. It’s my pleasure. Thanks for having me.
Lisa: I should back up and ask how did you get involved? I know that you are an author and you also have your own business realtor.
Vicki: Yes that’s right. I work for Camden Real Estate Company, hopped the coast a bit.
Lisa: Hopped the coast a bit and we love Camden actually. It’s part of our work with Maine Magazine. We spent time with Cellar Door and we’ve been to Vin Fest
Vicki: I know. I see you up there.
Lisa: All these great things that go up in the Midcoast area. So we’re happy to have you come down and spend time with us in Portland. How did you decide that doing Midcoast Habitat would be yet another thing to add to your list of things that are important to your life?
Vicki: It was about six years ago and like so many things in life that kind of end up, you look back and you say, “Wow, that was a momentous thing that happened.” It happened purely by accident. My middle son, Nathan, was going on a trip with our high school and he was going to Tutwiler Mississippi, the Delta Area to work on a Habitat project and at the very last minute one of the female chaperons canceled. So the director called me and asked if I wanted to go and I said, “You know, this is something I’ve always wanted to try just like what you were saying.”
I went down there and I just loved it. Of course, Nathan, kind of avoiding me for the first five days, but I just loved it. I love the hands-on mission of Habitat. I love that it’s not a free program. That’s a misconception of a lot of people have. They think people are getting a free house but it’s not. People are chosen very carefully based on their ability to repay and their need and their willingness to partner and give sweat equity. So it’s definitely not a free house and it’s just people that really need a hand up, not a hand out.
So anyway, I went down to Mississippi and sweat it and worked and learned kind of vinyl side actually and came back and I thought this is something I really want to get involved in. My own local Habitat was a group that had done good work over the years but they were tired. They needed to grow. I tried to volunteer there and kind of got no response and then I went on a trip with Maine, a group of Maine realtors down to Mobile, Alabama and when I came back from that, there was another Habitat trip I’m infiltrating. I get on the board and they asked me to become president and in the four years I’ve been president, we have kind of turned it around which has been great.
Lisa: As somebody who is involved in homeownership and bringing people to own their own homes, has there been, is there a specific thing about getting people who wouldn’t normally be able to own their homes that is appealed to you?
Vicki: Definitely, because I think next to having food, having a home is so basic and it’s definitely a big part of our American dream when we think about it. It goes just beyond the whole concept of shelter. I think we’re kind of seeing now, right now in the aftermath of Sandy and certainly we did with Katrina how important emergency housing is.
Housing goes so beyond just the sort of the naturing safe place we all think of, but it’s a place where children can dream and grow where they can excel in school. There have been studies after studies of how much better children do when they have a safe, healthy place to live. It just really spoke to me and yeah it’s interesting that I happen to be in real estate too which is about matching people up with their perfect dream home or property.
Habitat, it’s really special. When you get involved sort of beyond the building and you get involved maybe in your local affiliate, you see that we do everything at Habitat from soup to nuts. We hold the mortgage, we qualify the families, we build the houses, we help the families succeed, we fundraise, we have events. It’s a huge gamut of things. So it’s a fun place to volunteer as well.
Lisa: How does this fit in? This is digressing a little bit but it always interest me because like most Mainers, you have several different jobs and that’s including being a mother. How does this fit in with the job that you do that your work is a writer?
Vicki: It’s interesting because that’s kind of a surprising too. I’ve always been a writer. I went to real estate 10 years ago because I sort of miss the people connection and writing is very isolating. I was writing for magazines. I had written a book called Moving to Maine which is still doing pretty well that Down East published, but I was lonely and I thought, “I want to be part of the team again. I want to be kind of in a group.” And I figured, “Okay, I kind of let writing, go by the way side.”
The day I’m sitting in the real estate class which I took down here in Portland and the instructor started talking about all the things that can go wrong to real estate transaction, I thought, “This would make a great mystery series.” So here I am writing a murder mystery series, but I don’t know. Somehow, it all connects. Personally, I like to volunteer, I always have. I love my work as a real estate agent and then I like my quiet time when I’m producing these books and I have three out right now and the fourth one comes out in April and I’m working on the fifth one. So I’m kind of in a deadline.
But I kind of like that balance and the Yin and the Yang of it that, now I’m going and giving volunteer time and you get so much out of that, but now I’m going to be quiet and work on the books and now I’m out there with my big people had on and showing people home.
Lisa: Walk me through the process. If I’m a potential homeowner and I’m in the Midcoast area and I’m thinking, “I can’t really afford a home on my own but I would like to have one.” What would I do?
Vicki: This would hold true for really a Habitat anywhere. Here in Maine, we’re lucky enough we have 10 affiliates. We recently started a Habitat for Humanity of Maine, so we’re all getting together on a monthly basis and doing some group things and things like, but there are 10 active affiliates through the state.
What you would do if you wanted to become a partner family is you’d probably go on the website of the affiliate, you check and see if you qualify. Again, it’s based on need, your ability to repay and it’s a no-interest loan but there are payments and then your willingness to partner with us.
So we, at Midcoast Habitat, have a two-step application. You fill up the first half and then after that’s reviewed, the second half and then you would meet with our family selection community. They would go and see where you’re living now and assess the need. A lot of these folks, they’re in apartments or they’re in mobile homes and they’re just … The woman that we just turned over the house to, she had incredible mole rodents and then they’re paying probably at least twice what they will pay on a mortgage to own a home. That helps with the process.
If you were approved, then we call you and say that you’re selected, then you would start to actually come and work on the project yourself and you can get your family involved. It takes us probably about six or seven months, eight months to build a house and I think here in Portland you’re doing a little bit faster, then we get you in there.
Lisa: So you said 400 hours?
Vicki: 400 hours of sweat equity. Yes, for a family, for an individual person.
Lisa: So what is that look like? Is that spread over the six months or …
Vicki: Yes.
Lisa: What type of things do you hope people will be engaged in?
Vicki: The particular homeowner who is getting the house this time, Krista, she works full time and doesn’t have a whole lot of child care, so she’s mainly been coming on the weekends and she’s enlisted the help of some of her family to help with those hours. Yeah, they were in there framing and they have been insulating and they have painted the walls. So everything that’s involved in building a house, the family can chip right in on a due.
Lisa: Do you have a lower age limit for kids who want to help out in the families?
Vicki: By national standards, national rules, children under 16 cannot participate. We do have actually … There are youth programs we do, the thing called Nickels for Nails where the kids fundraise and some of them write letters in support of homeownership and poverty housing and things like that. It’s a job site. You need to be 16 and over.
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Lisa: How do people get involved in volunteering and what types of things are available for volunteer opportunities in Midcoast and allover the state?
Vicki: It’s very easy to volunteer and you can either go to your own affiliate’s website if you know what that is, whether it’s Midcoast Habitat or Habitat for Humanity of Greater Portland or 7 Rivers which is Bath and Brunswick. You can either go to that site or you can go on the National Habitat for Humanity website. Go on the volunteer segment and you can put in your zip code and they’ll tell you the affiliate that’s closest to you. That’s one way.
The other thing you can do that we’ve done that’s a lot of fun is a couple of years ago we went down to visit my in-laws in Florida and we knew we were going to be there for a few days and I said, “Let’s volunteer.” We contacted the affiliate right there in outside of Sarasota, Florida and went and volunteered a day our whole family, it was really fun. Of course, they were all fascinated with me coming from Maine and knowing that I’m involved in Habitat up here and they said, “What do you do? What do you do when it’s cold?” “Well, we keep on building.” Anyway, that’s a really fun thing to do.
Then, there were also trips abroad that you can do to Habitat International. Really, allover the world, Habitat is building homes.
Lisa: As a volunteer, do you go in and they assign you, “Okay here is some sheet rock, here is hammer and some nails …” I’ve never been on a jobsite myself so what would that look like?
Vicki: It’s a great question and of course there’s building, there’s other ways to volunteer too. Many Habitats have restores where they sell new and used building materials, appliances and things like that. You can volunteer in the restore, you can volunteer in a committee, but if you want to physically go and get your hands turned in and pick up a hammer and build, basically you just show up. You just kind of show up with a willing spirit and just be ready to kind of accept what they tell you to do.
There’s always constructions supervisor who will teach you what to do and they have the materials there. You can bring your own hammer if you want, your own work gloves, but they have all the materials on site and you just kind of have that spirit of, “Okay, I’m ready to pitch in and help,” and you’d be surprised what you can do.
Lisa: I can see you really doing some great work on a house.
Vicki: I must say my dad taught me how to use a hammer when I was quite young. I don’t have skill called upon often, but I’m sure that I could bring it out again.
Lisa: What type of impact do you think that this is having or do you know that this is having either locally or nationally? This Habitat has been around for how many years now?
Vicki: It started by Millard Fuller and I’m thinking of 60’s or 70’s but I’m not exactly sure, but Midcoast Habitat was started in 1990. So we’re coming up pretty quick on our 25th anniversary.
The impact it has on communities, certainly in the towns where we build, we’re getting residents to become taxpayers, they’re becoming people who have invested interest in their community. It has an effect when you get people there on the site and you can get churches involved or you get groups of women involved or you get high school groups involved.
There is that great connecting bonding and team spirit and it’s a very hopeful, fun thing to do, way to volunteer. So I think it has that impact too. I mean, we’re definitely chipping away at a huge problem but it is making a difference and, again, when I think that there’s 24 families now who are living in homes that weren’t before, I know that’s making a difference.
Habitat also is going to weatherization programs and we are just launching that in the Midcoast this year. We’ve just done two homes and our goal is going to be to do 50 over the year. Maine has got the oldest housing stock in the country, so you have some low-income people who maybe own their home but their home isn’t safe, it isn’t warm, their energy bills are sky high. So what we’re doing is we’re looking for families who need assistance in that way and going in and using volunteers and donate the materials weatherizing, insulating and things like that to make their homes tighter and I know that’s happening here in Portland too. That’s going to have a bigger and even bigger impact because you can touch so many more people doing that kind of thing.
Lisa: How was having been a part of Habitat and the president of Midcoast Habitat, how does this change you personally?
Vicki: I would say next to having my children and writing books which is pretty gratifying thing, but I would say that working with Midcoast Habitat, the people that have gotten involved, the partner families, it’s been one the most gratifying things I think I’ll ever do. I really love it and there’s just something about it again …
I think you know, I was always involved in a lot of things in the Midcoast that I enjoyed doing, but boy when I got on that work site, it just spoke to me and I just thought, “This is it.” My first couple of years as president before we hired our wonderful executive director Tia Anderson, but before that, it was tricky and it was tough and there were times I felt like, “Can I really do this?” And I felt like giving up, but I kept coming back to … It’s too important to let it die and I think that’s what it is. It’s just very … If we can end poverty, housing and homelessness in this country, in this state in the world, it’s a huge challenge but we’re chipping away at it and how great that would if everybody had a home.
Lisa: Vicki, what’s the best way for people to learn about Midcoast Habitat for Humanity?
Vicki: Well, I think probably online is the best way. We’ve got a website and all the other affiliates in Maine do also. So just click in or if you can’t remember the names of the different affiliates, just go on Habitat International, put in your zip code and it will show you the affiliate nearest you.
Lisa: We’ve been speaking with Vicki Doudera who is an author and real estate agent and mother and also president of the Midcoast Habitat for Humanity. You’re clearly a very busy woman so I appreciate you taking the time to come down here and sit with me and talk about this organization which I can tell you’re very passionate about.
Vicki: I appreciate it. Thank you very much for having me.
Speaker 1: We’ll return to our interview after acknowledging the following generous sponsors. Robin Hodgskin, senior vice president and financial adviser at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Portland, Maine. For all your investment needs, call Robin Hodgskin at 207-771-0888. Investments and services are offered through Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, member SIPC.
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Lisa: We have the good fortune at the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast of being sponsored by Maine Magazine and in fact our studio is in the office of Maine Magaine. So we really build on this great energy and community that has been created by Maine Magazine and Maine Home Design and all of the Eat Maine, Art Maine, I think other guides that are out there, but I don’t have to have all that information because I have Steve Kelly with me. He is the associate publisher of Maine Magazine and Maine Home Design and he’s going to talk to us about the community that is being built by these publications and also maybe even give me the spectrum of publications that are incorporated this broad umbrella of Maine Media.
Steve: Sure. Thank you for having me. I appreciate being here.
In 2007 is when the magazine has really got off through our Maine Home Design got off the ground and then 2009 Maine Magazine came along and we expanded some guides, Eat Maine, Art Maine, Home Maine as well as we have two annual events that came in the Kennebunkport Festival and the Maine Home and Design Home Show in Portland and then in Rockland.
Amongst other events and other involvement in the community and part of that from day one we really started building the community and that was really through early sponsorships. Now, I’m just connecting with businesses that were clients and finding out more about what they do and delving deeper, but also we really want to be connected to the communities that we are working in on a larger scale.
That really started fairly early on in 2007. That summer, we became a sponsor. Our first sponsorship ever was of the event called Playhouse and we’ve been a sponsor since. As a media sponsor, it’s more of a traditional sponsorship for us where we provide them some visibility in the magazine and sponsor a particular show each show.
That can always be different. We’ve learned also very quickly that we do things differently in how we would work with different organization sometimes. It would be something what is traditionally immediate trade and then it would also be customizing deeper as the years have gone on. We’ve really worked to have a stronger and deeper connection with all these organizations and that’s everything from … The art, you go with Playhouse, Portland Museum of Art, CMCA to Maine Cancer Foundation, Center for Grieving Children and a number of other organizations and Share Our Strength.
Our involvement with Share Our Strength is unique as well. They are an organization working to end childhood hunger if you’re unaware of what they do and strictly volunteer organization and they do wonderful work to do in the state of Maine. A lot of dollars are here in Maine to help end childhood hunger and they support a number of organizations that we work to in childhood hunger which is the Good Shepherd Food Bank or other organizations they are tied in with.
They are the beneficiary of the Kennebunkport Festival. So we each year have donated a substantial amount of money to Share Our Strength to work to end childhood hunger.
Lisa: What I’m always struck by is if Maine Magazine, Maine Home Design is sponsoring and I’m putting this in little parenthesis that people on air can’t see but sponsoring a show or an event or an organization. You’re often times there. You’re actually there, not only representing the magazine but also wanting to be part of that group and that community.
Steve: Absolutely. That’s been a big part of it. The publisher Kevin Thomas had always talked about not only … Not just simply offering media sponsorship and I think that’s something that he has driven really well through our companies that we want to be connected and involved. So a lot of our staff go and we get to know these organizations a lot better and deeper and get to have a better relationship and understand really what they do and the work that they’d do so that we can talk more about it in the community that we’re actually working with the various businesses we work with.
Lisa: Along with the ads that often appear in Maine Magazine, Maine Home Designs whether it’s for the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust or whether it’s for the Portland Museum of Art, you also often will send a photographer to these events and then people will go to these events, they show on Facebook and faces Maine. It has become I think a pretty popular way to promote these organizations.
Steve: Yes absolutely. We found that not only going to the event but also sending a photographer and having people’s images on Facebook or sometimes in the magazine depending on which event it is we’re sponsoring and editorial pages that we have to do to utilize that space, it’s been a fun component to be able to bring, not only the people who are involved with the event but people who are attending and kind of creating a larger community that way.
I’m glad you brought up Facebook. We use social media quite a bit in our organization and we also utilize that as a way to talk more about the events so people see more about the event, understand the event and hopefully we will go to it and support the organization ultimately. It’s what we’re hoping people would do is see ILAP Soiree every year for Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project and helping that cause.
People will see the event look like a lot of fun. Maybe they will go. Maybe they will learn more about ILAP and maybe they’ll consider of being a member and I think that’s a really wonderful way of connecting that aspect to the community.
Lisa: Why it has been so important for the magazines to get behind these community organizations?
Steve: That’s the community work and living. It’s kind of just being in Maine. I think a lot of us feel that way from who we are as people and are life here and kind of the … I hate to say just the Maine way but that we feel like you should be giving back and being connected and I think it’s really important part of what we do.
Lisa: I think there are a lot of people from the magazines from Brand Company which is also under the Maine Media Collective that are from Maine or have very strong ties to Maine. So you’re not just … Here let me talk about the stay. You actually believed in what what you’re putting out there.
Steve: Absolutely. Yeah, with Brand Company, it’s our marketing and arm of the company and we really work with a number of small businesses and large businesses to help their brand resonate and be as authentic to who they are if possible which is ultimately trying to be as authentic to the state they live in and work into the people that surround them and what their product is and everything and really trying to pile that together.
Lisa: You’re originally from Kennebunk or Kennebunkport?
Steve: I’m from Kennebunk.
Lisa: I always get confused. Although, my grandmother lives in that area. I should probably straight that out in my head eventually. Has working with Maine Magazine and Maine Home Design enabled you to do what a lot of people are said to not do which is stay within a state that you were raised in and then raise your own son here?
Steve: Yeah. I feel very fortunate for that. I know a lot of people are challenged to be able to work and live in the state of Maine and we here from a lot of our subscribers that I’m coming back to Maine sometime and I can’t wait to get back and I would visit all the time and somebody I’m going to move there. I just figure out this work thing or whatnot and I feel very fortunate to be able to have a good place to work that’s in a good environment and a good job and be able to raise my son and have our family here as opposed to go somewhere else. But also it wasn’t really option for me.
I spent a lot of time, I think a lot of people in their 20s do leaving and coming back, leaving and coming back, leaving and coming back and then eventually I came back to visit and I just stopped and said, “Why do I keep leaving?” It eventually sunk in this great place that is Maine and I decided to stay, I met my wife, we got married, we stayed here, we have a son. We didn’t want to leave and both of us and my wife grew up in Richmond Maine and I grew up in Kennebunk, although I’m not originally from Maine. I spent my life here and I just didn’t have any interest in ever living anywhere else after that.
Lisa: So the magazines have enabled you and your wife Jocelyn and your son Oscar to actually live your own dream but they’re also helping other people within Maine pursue a dream of a better life it sounds like.
Steve: Yeah, I think that’s an accurate thing to say.
Lisa: So the magazines have also enabled people who are parts of these organizations to go forward with their dreams as well. The Immigrant Legal Assistance Program, they will be on our upcoming show, the Portland Museum of Arts, the CMCA, a lot of people throughout Maine or actually depend upon these organizations for either livelihood or assistance in some way or inspiration. Maine Magazine and Maine Home Design are actually helping with that greater cause.
Steve: Yeah, we feel very lucky and fortunate to build a time to all of that and be welcomed in the community in that respect.
Lisa: We have been speaking with Steve Kelly, the associate publisher of Maine Magazine and Maine Home Design and also firmly a part of the Maine Media Collection which also includes the guides, Home Maine, Eat Maine, Art Maine and the Brand Company and we’ve been very fortunate to spend time with you today Steve. Thank you.
Steve: Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.
Lisa: You’ve been listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast show number 67, Dreams. Our guests have included Tom Peaco, executive director of Make-A-Wish Maine and the Fournier Wish Family, Midcoast Habitat for Humanity president, Vicki Doudera, associate publisher at Maine Magazine and Maine Home Design Steve Kelly.
For more information on our guests, visit doctorlisa.org. The Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast is downloadable for free on iTunes. For a preview of each week’s shows, sign up for our e-newsletter and like our Dr. Lisa Facebook page. You can also follow me on Twitter and Pinterest, doctorlisa and read my take on health and well-being on the Bountiful Blog, bountiful-blog.org.
We love to hear from you, so please let us know what you think of our show and if you have suggestions for future shows. Also, let our sponsors know that you have heard about them here. Tom Shepard of Shepard Financial, Beth Shissler of Sea Bags, Dr. John Herzog of Orthopedic Specialist, Marcy Booth of Booth Maine and Mike LePage and Beth Franklin of RE/MAX Heritage are personal friends of mine. I’m privileged that they enabled me to bring the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour to you each week.
This is Dr. Lisa Belisle hoping that our show will inspire the dreams in your day. Thank you for letting us be a part of your world. May you have a bountiful life.
Speaker 1: The Dr. Lisa The Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast is made possible with the support of the following generous sponsors. Maine Magazine, Mike LePage and Beth Franklin at RE/MAX Heritage, Robin Hodgskin at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Sea Bags, Dr. John Herzog of Orthopedic Specialists in Falmouth, Maine, Booth Maine, Tom Shepard of Shepard Financial, Apothecary by Design, and The Body Architect.
The Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast is recorded at the studios of Maine Magazine at 75 Market Street in Portland, Maine. It is produced by Kevin Thomas and Dr. Lisa Belisle. Audio production and original music by John C. McCain. Summaries of all our past shows can be found at doctorlisa.org.
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