REM Award Honorees (2009) — Mark Holt (Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter)

A big part of what keeps the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter running effectively is its great group of volunteers. We have volunteers from many walks of life, including church groups and students from grade school through college. Many of our former guests return to “give back” as volunteers. There are also community members who have a few extra hours a week to prepare a meal and those who just want to give their time to a worthy cause. We could not maintain the clean, safe, comfortable place that our guests call home without the efforts of our dedicated volunteers.

Mark Holt is unique to this group. He came to us in 2006 as a single father with his 18-month-old son and no place to go. He came into the shelter and worked on getting permanent housing while going to school to become an electrician. He was able to get a housing subsidy and found a nice apartment for him and his son. He graduated and became a licensed electrician in 2007.

Since then he has worked as an electrician, but due to the economy, work has not always been steady. When he has not been working he has volunteered at the shelter. Mark said he wanted to give back to the shelter a little bit of what it gave him.

Mark helps keep the place clean, helps take in and organize donations, and assists with the Homeless Prevention Program on Fridays. He is great with repairs, painting, and, of course, any minor electrical issues that may arise.

Mark lives in Waterville with his son, Skyler, who is now almost 5. He enjoys hunting, fishing, and doing anything outdoors. He also likes watching NASCAR and football, but his favorite thing to do is to hang out with his son. He even invented a board game for them to play together. The Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter is proud to honor one of its own with the 2009 REM Community Volunteer Award.

For more information about the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter, please visit its website.