Firewood assistance programs growing in Maine - Lewiston Sun Journal - Lewiston Sun Journal

You’ve heard of nutrient banks, but what astir wood banks?

Similar to nutrient banks, which supply escaped nutrient items to families successful need, wood banks connection firewood to families without the fiscal means and carnal quality to root their ain wood.

Over the past decade, volunteers for the Rotary Club of Bethel person divided and transported firewood for section residents successful need. It’s 1 of a increasing fig of organizations successful the authorities providing heating assistance to Mainers with wood-burning stoves.

Seeking to promote communities to make much wood banks and link existing programs crossed the authorities and country, the University of Maine precocious received a $62,500 assistance from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.

Jessica Leahy, a prof of forestry, volition pb the projects astatine the assemblage and enactment with collaborators from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and The Alliance for Green Heat, a Maryland-based nonprofit organization.

The universities volition probe wood banks crossed the state and make acquisition resources to assistance commencement and prolong these programs, additionally hosting a nationalist online acme for wood banks.

“Cutting your ain firewood sounds great, but you bash request a chainsaw, you request information equipment, you request a conveyance to transport it,” Leahy said. “There’s conscionable a batch that goes into it. And so, not everybody tin bash that.”

Tight finances, carnal disablement and property whitethorn each hinder someone’s quality to root their ain firewood, she said. For radical facing the prime betwixt nutrient oregon vigor successful Maine’s frigid winters, wood banks tin beryllium a captious assemblage resource.

“There’s wide content that radical are truly liable erstwhile they inquire for wood,” Leahy said. “Many of the groups successful Maine bash not usage a vetting process to person radical beryllium their income. They spot that radical (are honest),” she said.

‘CUTTING AND SPLITTING’

It was a one-off donation from a section nonmigratory which kick-started the Bethel Rotary Club’s firewood programme much than 10 years ago.

Now, firewood coordinator Scott Hynek said helium realizes the logs were donated to promote the nine to bash conscionable that.

“We didn’t recognize that close away,” helium said. “All we knew was that wood had appeared by magic, and I yet figured retired what had happened.”

Every year, Hynek and different members of the nine signifier a fig of “cutting and splitting” sessions, sometimes with volunteers from Dirigo High School.

Local residents with other logs oregon unwanted felled trees invitation the nine to travel process the wood. The nine past transports and stores the divided wood until wintertime comes.

During the past respective winters, the enactment has regularly supplied 4 households with firewood, Hynek said.

Requesting wood is elemental and mostly anonymous, Hynek said. Residents are invited to reach retired to him personally with requests. The lone different idiosyncratic who knows who the wood goes to is the driver, helium said.

The nine is ever successful hunt of donated wood and volunteers to assistance process it.

Sometimes, gathering wood for the programme is arsenic elemental arsenic helping to wide distant an unwanted, fallen tree.

“Not everybody successful Maine knows however to enactment a chainsaw,” helium said. “We conscionable spell cleanable up the yard, instrumentality distant the tree. Everybody’s happy.”

In their champion year, the enactment divided 12 cords of wood. This twelvemonth volition apt beryllium smaller, but they’re not finished yet. Their adjacent cutting and splitting league is planned for this weekend.

“It is important due to the fact that astir radical that are heating with wood aren’t radical who person a batch of other wealth astir anyway,” Hynek said. “It’s not arsenic casual arsenic letting your thermostat and checkbook bash it with oil.”

And similar galore different things these days, helium said prices for purchasing firewood are rising.

“This is (just) a portion (of) the benignant of things that Rotary Clubs bash everywhere,” Hynek said. “It is simply a work earlier aforesaid benignant of operation.”

BUILDING COMMUNITY

Leahy archetypal began researching wood banks successful 2014 with Sabrina Vivian, past an undergraduate student. The brace wrote a usher to assistance communities with starting and moving their ain wood banks.

While researching the guide, they organized a acme to bring unneurotic wood banks crossed Maine and larn astir their programs. Leahy said that the attendees’ operations ranged successful size from a pistillate who paid to support the woodshed astatine the extremity of her driveway stocked to ample groups with their ain processing equipment.

“Wood banks are inherently a section phenomenon,” Leahy said. “You don’t privation to determination firewood precise far.”

There are fewer wood banks which advertise themselves arsenic such. Many are tally informally and are known lone to those surviving successful the community.

Back erstwhile Vivian and Leahy were researching wood banks successful 2015, they had lone identified a fistful successful Maine. Since then, others person been created.

Besides the 1 successful Bethel, determination are besides known wood banks located successful Cumberland, Orland, Boothbay Harbor, Penobscot and crossed Waldo County.

The astir palmy programs are the ones which determination dilatory successful processing their process and identifying a bully location, Leahy said. She recommends those funny successful starting wood banks scope retired to different palmy organizations successful the authorities and perceive to assemblage members astir what volition enactment best.

A request investigation conducted by Vivian and Leahy successful 2015 recovered that residents adjacent Farmington, Rangeley, Buckfield, Canton, Stoneham and Brownfield mightiness find wood banks to beryllium peculiarly beneficial. The investigation considered income levels and the fig of homes heated by wood utilizing census data.

This year, the Alliance for Green Heat volition administer grants to existing wood banks ranging betwixt $5,000-15,000. But adjacent year, the programme volition turn to assistance money caller and recently forming wood banks.

And arsenic adjuvant arsenic wood banks tin beryllium for those successful need, it’s besides an fantabulous mode to physique community, Leahy and Hynek agreed.

“It’s nobody’s thought of a amusive happening to do, cutting and splitting wood,” Hynek said. “But if you’re doing with a clump of radical that you cognize and are acquainted with, it tin beryllium a batch of fun. The kids (high schoolhouse students) drawback connected to that. That’s a fantastic happening for them to know.”

“I conscionable deliberation the societal superior that radical get from moving unneurotic to assistance their neighbors — it’s large to get radical their firewood and physique assemblage astatine the aforesaid time, and wood banks supply that,” Leahy said.