Maine Habitat for Humanity
The Mira Monte Inn and other Maine inns are working together to help Maine’s Habitat for Humanity. You can help. Ask us about Habitat for Humanity or share your comments. To feature your business, contact us.
Maine Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity Maine volunteers work on a housing project.
The idea to raise money for Habitat for Humanity by teaming up with Maine Inns and B&Bs came from Marian Burns, owner of the Mira Monte Inn in Bar Harbor. Wanting to help out Habitat for Humanity Burns was inspired by a previously successful fundraiser to save the windows of St.Saviour’s Episcopal Church. She had written to her UMO women’s college classmates and offered them a discount if they showed up with a $25 check to the St.Saviour’s Window fund.
The money she was able to raise helped to save the beautiful Tiffany windows. Burns thought that the same offer could be made for donations to Habitat for Humanity and if other inns participated then they could help Maine’s Habitat for Humanity chapters. So, she went to her fellow Board Members at the Maine Innkeeper’s Association to request their support. They agreed that it was a wonderful idea and that it would help everyone. May was ideal since it was a slow tourist month and the rooms would be available. The fundraiser would help bring people to Maine during a slow month, enable locals to try out some of the nearby Inns and B&Bs at an affordable price and Habitat for Humanity gets a great boost. Everyone wins!
When the Hospitality for Humanity program began in 2004, it raised over two thousand dollars for Habitat for Humanity. The total amount raised almost doubled the following year, and we hope that with your help, it will double again. The 2005 award-winning Harraseeket Inn in Freeport raised the most money. Nancy Gray, the innkeeper, was surprised and touched when people who had heard about the program brought in a donation without even staying at the inn. “It tells you there are some swell people in the world still,” says Nancy Gray, who runs the inn with her family.
The donations collected at all the inns are divided among the local chapters of Habitat for Humanity, a well-known organization that aims to end the cycle of poverty by helping needy families afford safe, respectable housing. Habitat and its affiliates have built homes for more than one million people around the world. The homes are built with donated supplies and volunteer labor, and homeowners pay no interest on their mortgages. In return, they must spend hundreds of hours working on their houses. Their mortgage payments help the next group of Habitat families achieve their dream of home ownership. Greg Dugal of the Maine Innkeepers’ Association says he’d love to see Hospitality for Habitat raise $10,000 or more so that the donation each chapter received would be enough to buy appliances or another significant piece of a home.
There are several lodging properties participating in the Hospitality for Habitat program this year. The offer does not necessarily apply to all rooms or all nights, so please ask the innkeepers about any restrictions. Have a great time, get a great deal, and help a great cause all at the same time!
For more information visit a local Maine inn and inquire about Maine’s Habitat for Humanity Program. and tell them ME Living sent you.
Sewall House Yoga Retreat, 1027 Crystal Road (PO Box 254), Island Falls, Maine 04747 | 1-646-316-5151
The Sewall House Inn & Yoga Retreat remains in the family and to this day continues the hospitality begun by Levi Sewall (who settled Island Falls and is William's father). Donna Davidge, the fifth generation in the house, runs the lovely historic inn as a yoga retreat, splitting her time between Island Falls, Maine and New York City. Ranked Top Ten by Conde Naste Traveller and USA Today.
Visit Sewall House Yoga Retreat - Island Falls, ME
Beachmere Inn, 62 Beachmere Place, Ogunquit, ME 03907 | 207-646-2021
Ocean front accommodations in the heart of Ogunquit on the Marginal Way with breathtaking ocean views. Luxury suites and unique rooms, fireplaces, kitchenettes, private balconies or patios. Enjoy an on-site spa, exercise room and hot tub. Reception rooms for weddings, meetings and events. Beachmere Inn is a leader in guest services, event coordination and hospitality. A stunning location perfect for weddings, elopements, vow renewals, rehearsal dinners, bridal showers and even bachelor - bachelorette weekend getaways. Open year round. Walk to everything in town or enjoy drinks from our ocean view Blue Bistro.
Visit Beachmere Inn - Ogunquit ME
Pet Friendly Lodging | Personals
Maine Weddings | Explore Maine Towns
