Find out why a Kennedy Park couple is this week's Community Champions. Can I have some of this bacon, eggs and cheese? Yeah, yeah, yeah. ” Paul and Richelle Bernard stop around the city of Lewiston every day. We distribute food to people facing homelessness. At Pop – Paul 1;24;46 “I got a green salad and tortellini.”
Project Community: Maine Veterans Couple Provides More Than Food to Homeless Community
“They're like my parents who are no longer with me,” says John Lombard, who faces homelessness.
Updated: May 11, 2024 1:31pm EDT
Paul and Leechelle Bernard have volunteered more than 900 hours, including serving meals at the Lewiston Warming Center. Even after the warming center closed in mid-April, the two continued collecting food donations and delivering them to people facing homelessness in Lewiston. Much of the donations came from Panera and The Rusty Lantern in Turner. John Lombard says he has been homeless since his mother died when he was 19. Lombard, who is still young, said the Bernards are “like my parents who are no longer with me.” I didn't actually have a father and my mother died when I was young, so they're like the family I didn't have. ” Paul empathizes with Lombard, who says he faced homelessness in Lewiston when he was 15 years old. At the age of 18, Paul enlisted in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. Paul says: “I was assigned to an aircraft carrier and had food, lots of food. I mean, that was my family.” The Barnard family forged friendships and learned the names of people facing homelessness in Lewiston. I am. Paul says: “Everyone drives by invisibly. Well, they're not invisible to us.”
LEWISTON, Maine —
Paul and Leechelle Bernard have volunteered more than 900 hours, including serving meals at the Lewiston Warming Center.
Even after the warming center closed in mid-April, the two continued collecting food donations and delivering them to people facing homelessness in Lewiston. Much of the donations came from Panera and The Rusty Lantern in Turner.
John Lombard says he has been homeless since his mother died when he was 19. Lombard, who is still young, said the Bernards are “like my parents who are no longer with me.” I didn't actually have a father and my mother died when I was young, so they're like the family I didn't have. ”
Paul empathizes with Lombard and says he faced homelessness in Lewiston when he was 15 years old. At the age of 18, Paul enlisted in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. Paul says: “I was assigned to an aircraft carrier and I had food, lots of food. I mean, that was my family.”
The Bernard family builds friendships and remembers the names of people facing homelessness in Lewiston. Paul says: “Everyone drives by invisibly. Well, they're not invisible to us.”