UMaine volunteer group to paint home for disabled veteran
A team of around a dozen students with the University of Maine’s Alternative Breaks program will gather at 719 County Road in Milford on Friday, Nov. 11 at 9 a.m. to paint the home of a veteran who is disabled.
Milford resident Rachel Putnam, who served in the U.S. Navy from 1979–99 as an aviation electronics technician, has multiple sclerosis. Though she’s still physically active, Putnam needs help with big household projects like exterior house painting.
When an arrangement to have some volunteers paint the outside of her house before winter fell through, Putnam reached out to the Bureau of Maine Veterans’ Services. The bureau contacted UMaine’s Veterans Education and Transition Services (VETS) Office, which put out a call for help. The Bodwell Center for Service and Volunteerism responded and Putnam was connected with an Alternative Breaks team.
UMaine’s Black Bear Chapter of Alternative Breaks is part of a national service-learning program in which participants volunteer to help those in need, both locally and on weeklong trips over spring break.
The Alternative Breaks student group that is going to help Putnam will also travel to Rockaway, New Jersey in the spring to work with Habitat for Humanity, says Lisa Morin, Coordinator at the Bodwell Center.
“The groups always look for local projects to complete prior to their trip,” Morin says. “These projects are part of their group development and really help them to prepare for their trips. Finding something so closely related to their distance project is not always possible, so they are excited.”