CUP's History & Achievements

During 2018-19 a small group of community leaders representing several organizations from the Skowhegan area met informally to explore building a collaboration focused on health promotion and resilience. They shared a common belief that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, and a desire to identify a common vision that was bigger than siloed funding streams and individual organizations.

In March 2020, in response to the COVID Pandemic, this group came together, pooling resources and funds that had been “released” for emergency programming to provide free weekly curbside pick-up meals at Centenary United Methodist Church. In the beginning they networked with two other churches in Somerset County (Anson & Hartland) to distribute meals prepared in Skowhegan. At the peak, there were over 350 meals going out every week. They scaled back in the fall of 2020 to meals twice a month for onsite only. They averaged approximately 120 meals per evening. Between March 2020 – May 2022 volunteers have prepared approximately 6,500 free meals. As the pandemic continued, they realized they needed to find other ways to partner together to serve their neighbors and wider community.

The Clothing Closet had been a long-standing local mission of the Centenary United Methodist Church and had built up a reputation for collecting, sorting, and merchandising a wide variety of gently used clothing. However due to social distancing constraints brought on by the pandemic, the closet had to limit the number of clients allowed to visit the space at any one time. This caused patrons to either stand in long lines in the parking lot or sit in their cars as they waited for their turn to shop. The closet volunteers wanted to provide a more cordial welcome. In May of 2020, the closet volunteers rose to the challenge. They applied for a Together for Tomorrow grant from the New England Conference of the United Methodist Church. With the funding this provided, they converted one of Centenary’s classrooms into a space for a Community Café. They began to offer free coffee and light refreshments to closet clientele as they waited their turn to shop.

Over the next few months, relationships between church and community volunteers and local service organizations serving Somerset County continued to strengthen and grow. It became evident that by combining their resources, they could offer a new kind of “radical hospitality.”

In November 2020 Common Unity Place was incorporated. This formalized established partnerships between CUMC and community-based organizations allowing the diversification of funding to support the Clothing Closet, the meal program, CUP Cafe, and other outreach initiatives and services.

In December 2020, CUP received its first grant from United Way of Mid-Maine (UWMM) of $3500 to fund the meal program.

In April 2021, CUP received a Community Partner grant, its second grant also from UWMM. This funding helped to launch Common Unity Place.