Mainspring seeks community's help to raise $5.5 million for new Kittery-based resource hub

KITTERY, Maine — The number of people seeking the services of Footprints Food Pantry increased by nearly 50% last year, as the agency also doubled the amount of food distributed.

There are currently more than 270 households in Kittery alone seeking Footprints’ assistance every month.

Meanwhile, folks down the street and around the corner at Fair Tide are helping five times as many households avoid homelessness as they did in 2018. The thrift shop operated by Fair Tide grossed nearly $250,000 in sales last year, with profits channeled toward the costs of operating the organization’s programs and services.

The group also owns a five-unit house in downtown Kittery to provide shelter for occupants who might not otherwise have a home, and is currently in the process of developing two other residential properties in town.

Footprints Food Pantry, Fair Tide teaming up to create Mainspring

Now these two Kittery-based powerhouse non-profit organizations are teaming up to share space under a single roof, and are kicking off a $5.5 million fundraising campaign to get it done.  While both have had a significant impact in the area, organization leaders acknowledge the current system needs an overhaul.

The fact is, although these groups have toiled heroically for a combined 55 years, hunger and the lack of affordable housing still persist as problems in the Seacoast. By pooling resources, they say, they can better serve neighbors in need.

“There is poverty in this community, even if you can’t see it,” Footprints director Megan Shapiro-Ross said recently.

The joint enterprise has been dubbed Mainspring, which is defined as “the chief or most powerful motive, agent or cause.”

The genius of the plan lies in its simplicity – it is essentially a case for one-stop shopping. If services being sought by those in need are streamlined within a single facility, applicants will have a much easier time navigating the process. They may also feel more inclined to seek assistance if the task seems less overwhelming.

“We’re just looking to have folks not bounce from place to place,” said Fair Tide Executive Director Emily Flinkstrom. “The way it’s set up now, it’s not working. It’s getting worse.”

The new Mainspring resource center will be centrally located to Kittery businesses, plans to include other services in the future

Fair Tide purchased the former medical practice building at 22 Shapleigh Road last April through a $750,000 grant from the American Rescue Plan Act. This highly visible site is centrally located between the local post office, the Kittery Community Center, both gated entrances to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, and Traip Academy, the local high school.

Fair Tide’s thrift store on State Road and Footprints’ market at Old Post Road will both be relocated within the new site, which was most recently used for storage by the Old York Historical Society. Current plans call for the 8,000 square-foot building to be expanded to more than 11,000 feet, and each organization will have its own storefront entrance. There will also be a third entrance at what is now the rear of the building, to Mainspring’s administrative offices.

Plans are under way to include other services as well, including York County Community Action − which administers initiatives like the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program – and the general assistances offices of both Kittery and Eliot, which administer emergency funding from town coffers for residents in need. Eventually legal aid, medical and dental clinics, and other services will be offered as well.

Under the current setup, those seeking services typically have to arrange appointments and fill out applications at various locations. They’re required to share “the most vulnerable details of their lives with strangers,” the directors point out, “and are sent off to repeat this time-intensive and emotionally draining process over and over again.”

“Being poor is a full-time job,” Shapiro-Ross explained. “If you’re lacking food, you’re likely lacking housing, and if you lack housing, you’re most likely lacking health care.”

Nobody will be refused help

One of the obstacles both directors encounter is the “not in my back yard” mentality some individuals carry regarding “those people” who require such assistance. But what they are finding, especially during this ongoing economic period of inflation, is that many applicants find themselves seeking assistance for the first time.

“I could be one of those people – one step away,” said Shapiro-Ross, who’s headed Footprints since 2020. “It takes one health crisis for people to be there.”

They emphasize that the towns of Kittery and Eliot are equally committed to this effort. The programs benefit residents of both towns, as well as York and South Berwick in Maine and Portsmouth in New Hampshire.

Previous story:Fair Tide, Footprints Food Pantry to open Mainspring, a Kittery social services hub

But no one approaching them for help will be turned away.

Footprints and Fair Tide will continue to operate separately in their respective missions even after they start sharing space, but Mainspring is a highly collaborative process. One illustration of this team concept is Fair Tide’s invitation to Footprints to share ownership of the new building they were purchasing, rather than simply charging the food pantry rent as a tenant.

“Mainspring transcends Fair Tide's mission,” Flinkstrom said, noting that both groups share similar missions of improving their community. “As such, it only makes sense to share the work, and the benefits, with our partners.”

Plans for the shared 22 Shapleigh Road property, adding other property for affordable housing

These are heady times for Fair Tide in particular. Part of the proposal for the nearly two-acre parcel at 22 Shapleigh Road includes construction of a new house on the property, which will host six “deeply affordable” units.

In addition, there are also plans to renovate a house on Old Post Road known locally as the “Dineen property,” where several unused commercial buses were stored for years. This property – which happens to sit directly across the street from Footprints’ current location – first has to be remediated by the town.

Kittery Town Manager Kendra Amaral said last week officials are working on grants from the Brownfield Redevelopment Program to deal with hazardous waste materials at the former bus depot, including asbestos inside the building and leaked oil and gas in the soils outside. The town is now completing a memorandum of understanding with Fair Tide, after the organization submitted the winning proposal selected to develop the property for affordable housing.

“Timeline is not certain, but I am hoping the project will be at least starting construction in 2024,” Amaral said.

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Flinkstrom expects to create another four to six units of affordable housing at the tax-foreclosed site once it’s all said and done. Fair Tide also works with local landlords and property managers to find affordable permanent housing for families and individuals facing homelessness, and provides case management assistance.

“There is a big gap in our inventory for rental units that are affordable for people making 80% of the area median income, or less,” said Flinkstrom, who has headed the non-profit since 2016.

“Affordable housing” is defined as mortgage or rent and utility payments which are no more than 30% of the occupants’ income, according to the Fair Tide director. For instance, the median household annual income in the Seacoast region is about $115,000, she says. Eighty percent of that amount is $92,000.

Based on this 30% formula, a household earning 80% of the average income – or $92,000 a year --can afford $2,300 a month in rent and utilities.

“For someone making the average renter wage of $15.21/hour, they can only afford $791 a month in rent and utilities,” Flinkstrom noted. “You aren't going to find that anywhere!”

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As for Footprints, the pantry they plan to install at the Shapleigh Road site will be redesigned as a “gorgeous grocery store model,” including a commissary kitchen and a kids’ area supported by a $10,000 Dunkin Donuts grant, said Shapiro-Ross.

Nearly 140 new households sought the services of Footprints last year alone, she noted.

How the idea of merging resources came together

While this resource hub will make these services more accessible for neighbors in need, the shared facility will also help participating agencies streamline their overhead costs. For instance, they will only require one receptionist who can direct visitors to the office they seek, and they’ll share a phone system and utilities, snowplowing costs, and so forth.

The directors acknowledge they didn’t invent this concept – it’s becoming more commonplace all across the country, although perhaps not as often as it should.

In their case, it was a matter of almost karmic timing. Flinkstrom and others had determined back in 2019 that having multiple services in a single location would be ideal, but they didn’t know where such a place could be located. Then several of these agencies worked more closely together during the COVID-19 pandemic, developing a stronger sense of community.

Finally, the Shapleigh Road site – which was not for sale − became available through the outreach of a board member. This member helped the historical society find a new location right there in York, which made the long-coveted Kittery building available.

Right around this same time, Fair Tide was approved for the American Rescue Plan Act grant that covered the price of the purchase. The non-profit had initially intended to construct a new building at a different site, but had eyed 22 Shapleigh for years.

So far, the organizations have already raised nearly $1 million of the $5.5 million needed to complete the renovation and expansion, including the ARPA funding. Nearly $3.4 million is for actual construction costs, while another $270,000-plus will cover architecture and engineering expenses. ARQ Architects in Kittery is designing the space.

Mainspring is described in promotional literature as “The Seacoast Social Services Collective.” The groups are now actively seeking donors and supporters.

“We invite anybody to approach us and walk on through,” Flinkstrom said.

Donations can be mailed to Mainspring c/o Fair Tide, 15 State Road, Kittery ME 03904, or submitted through the website www.mainspringcollective.org/donate.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Kittery, ME resource hub raising money to merge social services