Bangor Area Homeless Shelter's Hike for the Homeless

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Locals help homelessness take a hike
By Sara Breau
Posted on Thursday, April 8th, 2010, 1:28 am

The outdoors is more than just a place to get fresh air. It is also a retreat from the busy routines of careers and classes. Tessa Prest-Berg is using this love for nature as a gateway to introduce her beliefs and passion for service to others.

Prest-Berg, a University of Maine graduate, will be participating in the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter’s 15th annual Hike for the Homeless April 10. The hike is organized to help raise money through donations and pledges and to boost awareness about the increasing percentage of homeless people living in Bangor and the surrounding community.

The hike is an annual fundraiser sponsored this year by local sponsors Bangor Daily News, WLBZ-2, Bangor Savings Bank, Eastern Maine Community College, Sutherland-Weston Marketing Communications and Trans Tech Industries Inc. of Brewer.

“I think just bringing awareness to the issue is so important, because before I looked into it after hearing about the hike, I had no idea what an issue it is here,” Prest-Berg said. “You wouldn’t expect it in a small town like Bangor.”

The Bangor Area Homeless Shelter has provided overnight shelter to approximately 449 people in the past year, according to executive director Dennis Marble. He said that added up to “about 11,800 cumulative nights” in the past year.

An additional estimated 1,500 local low-income people have visited the shelter for basic services including daytime shelter, referrals, crisis containment or simply a hot meal.

This is Prest-Berg’s first year participating in the hike, but she is by no means a novice to the concept. She has been giving back to the community through service for years, volunteering at Manna Ministries Inc. and working with Meals on Wheels affiliate, Meals for ME.

Prest-Berg is a full-time employee at Lifelines Ministry on campus, an organization focused on its beliefs of ministering the community by helping wherever there is a need. Lifelines uses outdoor activities such as rafting, hiking, sledding and rock climbing as common ground to connect with others and to help them grow as individuals and leaders.

“Basically the Lifelines mission statement is to use the outdoors to grow people and their relationship with God and each other, and to grow in leadership and character,” Prest-Berg said. “It’s about using the outdoors and relationships with God to talk to people about spiritual stuff.”

An outdoors enthusiast, Prest-Berg spoke of love of nature as a bond that allows her to connect with people and use the opportunity to discuss religious beliefs and encourage others to explore their minds on a spiritual level. She spent a recent Saturday morning fishing, and is also a fan of hiking and any activity that allows her to spend time with others getting active in the outdoors.

Prest-Berg learned of the hike when she saw an informational poster at the campus climbing gym, and immediately knew it was a perfect fit for her.

“Lifelines is like an outdoor Christian ministry, so when I saw the word ‘hike’ I was excited and knew I wanted to do it,” Prest-Berg said. “When I saw that it said Hike for the Homeless, I was hoping that it would be like a hike up a mountain, then I heard that it starts in Veazie, which is still cool.”

Mountain hiking or not, the opportunity to do an outdoor activity that would benefit other members of the community was too good for Tessa to pass up.

According to the Hike for the Homeless Web site, participants can begin at one of four locations in Bangor, Brewer, Veazie or Hampden. The hike will end at the Bangor Waterfront with a cookout, raffle prizes and information sessions about further volunteering opportunities with the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter. The minimum donation for those participating in the hike is $5, but the homeless shelter is encouraging volunteers to raise as much as they can by advertising the hike within the community.

“I think if I were just to go and hike it wouldn’t make that much of a difference. That’s why I’m trying to get all of the pledges,” Prest-Berg said.

There are currently 17 employees at the shelter, according to its Web site.

“I’m just thinking that they rely a lot on volunteers and I feel like an organization like that would help so much by any little amount that I can give. I feel like there’s a lot of bang for people’s bucks when they donate,” said Prest-Berg.

She attributes much of her motivation to help others from her desire to live what she sees as an active Christian life.

“When I was growing up, there were the Christians who just went to church every weekend and I was like okay. Then when I got deeper into it and read the Bible a little more I was like, hey, it’s way more than just going to church,” Prest-Berg said.

Since feeling out her personal beliefs regarding Christianity, Prest-Berg has become a member of the Lifelines Ministry and taken a more active role in reaching out and spreading the word within her community.

“The whole thing about Lifelines is that we want to be outdoors and help people,” Prest-Berg said.

She added that with the hike, she can “basically do what Jesus did, and help the homeless.”

Prest-Berg spent her day tabling outside Starbucks in Memorial Union on April 7. People could stop by for information about the hike or make a donation.

Because the shelter also offers support services, they see more than just people looking for a bed. In the past year, more than 2,000 people have stayed at or visited the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter for support, Marble said.

Prest-Berg is hopeful raising awareness about the issue will lead to a decline in the number of homeless in the greater Bangor area.

“When I looked into it, it surprised me, just the fact that there’s so many homeless in Bangor and I don’t ever see them,” Prest-Berg said. “I didn’t even know about it, I think I just walk by them a lot of times and have my blinders on. This is an opportunity to take the blinders off.”