BUILDING HOPE

Premiering June 29, 2024 at the UU Congregation of Castine, 4-6pm with an in person expert panel including: Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, Rachel Talbot Ross; Community Housing of Maine director, Cullen Ryan; former director of H.O.M.E. Tracey Hair; director of Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter & Services, Dr. Katie Spencer White; and James Raines, formerly homeless and 25-years of incarceration and now successfully housed and working. This feature length film (1:25) will be on an theatrical tour beginning in Maine in the Fall of 2024 along with panels of experts to lead discussions.

BUILDING HOPE brings to audiences around Maine and beyond that there is hope to ending the suffering of homelessness.  The stories are complex and hard to bear:  the lack of affordable housing; substance use disorder; anxiety and depression; despair and lack of self esteem; domestic abuse; trauma; poverty; encampments; prison time; lost loved ones; brutal weather. How can this happen in “the richest country in the world?” This long U.S. reputation has brought throngs of asylum seekers escaping the fear of cartels and dictators, yearning to be free, hoping for a better life. This is what BUILDING HOPE is about even though it’s hard to even think that there is hope.  But there is. We can all make a difference.