By Carly Baker
The Root Cellar, a faith-based non-profit organization based in Portland and Lewiston, has recently expanded programming in its newer Lewiston location. To increase access to safe and affordable housing, The Root Cellar purchased 20 housing units on Pier Street in Lewiston and plans to add these to the housing stock for low-income Lewistonians. The center also has goals of expanding in the near future, doubling or tripling their current space. Joel Furrow, Executive Director of The Root Cellar, mentioned the possibility of opening an indoor recreational space in the new building.
“I’m thinking about how we impact the next three, or four, five generations, ” said Furrow..
Year-round activity
Summer is a particularly busy time for The Root Cellar. The organization’s youth camp hosts over a hundred kids, offering sports, games, and art projects. To help address the well-documented drop in literacy levels for many students over the course of summer months, The Root Cellar also engages students in reading activities during the summer camp.
The rest of the year The Root Cellar in Lewiston offers English language learning courses, immigrant welcoming services, a food pantry, a café, and a sewing group. All services support the organization’s mission of cultivating social, economic, and spiritual wholeness.
The Root Cellar’s Story
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In 1984, Mennonite missionaries saw community need in Munjoy Hill in Portland, and opened up a teen community center in the basement of a church – which had previously been used as a root cellar.
In 2001, The Root Cellar expanded into a 15,000-square-foot building in Portland. At the time, the immigrant population in Portland began to grow, and in response The Root Cellar turned its focus to meeting the needs of this community. They added a second location in the Tree Street neighborhood of Lewiston in 2006.
In 2012, The Root Cellar moved away from a charity model and began to focus on building mutually beneficial partnerships with community members.
:“ It’s reciprocal to us,” Furrow said. “It fits really well with our mindset around our faith, which is loving others as we love ourselves… How would we want to be loved? There’s a requirement to recognize dignity.”
Summer & youth leadership at the Root Cellar
The Root Cellar, which fosters youth leadership, hires local teenagers to lead the summer camp. For many of these young people, this is their first job.
Furrow commented on the advantages of hiring young people at The Root Cellar: “[It] allows us to do some really cool things, like we’ve been able to serve a variety of languages because the teenagers are bilingual, multilingual. They’re able to help us with connections with families… This summer we’ll have 40 or so teenagers finding a first-time job with us.”
Furrow noted that supporting youth endeavors is a core part of The Root Cellar’s work: “We’re working alongside our teens and then they start taking leadership and have these creative ideas, and we’re able to support those.”
Teen initiative led to the launch of a coffee shop at The Root Cellar called Common Ground Café, which offers free drinks. The café acts as a warming center in the winter and a place to connect year round.
English Language Courses and more
Two organizations in Lewiston, the General Assistance (GA) Office and FedCap, refer clients to “The Path Forward,” an English language learning and job readiness program offered by The Root Cellar. This allows clients to fulfill GA Workfare required hours, which are needed to maintain housing and food vouchers.
During the last year, The Root Cellar launched a creative writing course, inspired by an idea shared by an Americorps volunteer. Project Home, an anthology of participants’ writing, is underway. “That is a really beautiful example of how hard they [English language learners] have worked and how far they’ve come, some of them in a short amount of time.” Furrow said. The book is composed of personal stories, reflections, and poetry.
To learn more visit therootcellar.org
