About SACTAPP

To the editor:
    I want the public to know a few facts about me and, more so, about the project I founded last February which I named Southern Aroostook Coalition to Aid Poor People, or, SACTAPP for short. First, SACTAPP never was, is not, and never will be about getting money for me; quite the contrary is so, as I have given very much to this project in both time and money. I live comfortably enough on the $684 monthly SSI disability check I receive because I am afflicted with borderline personality disorder.
    I established SACTAPP in February of this year as a way to try to help those far less fortunate than myself, those with no home or without other necessities of life. As my “Mission Statement” says, my long-term goal was to eventually build a homeless shelter in southern Aroostook. And, in the meantime, to meet “the pressing real needs of many who fall through the cracks of other helping organizations … to provide some aid, presently, to the most needy people among us … to help these human beings regain and retain safety of life.”
    I am glad to report that in June and July SACTAPP was able to give aid to one such middle-aged man by providing him with shelter, food and transportation for several weeks. This man (whom I’ll just call “T”) has often during those weeks sincerely expressed his gratitude to me and to others for the existence of SACTAPP and for the donations of those who have given into its jars throughout the area. And, I too wish to thank all those who have given donations.
    Now here are the financial facts. Since its inception in February, until the month of May, SACTAPP’s sole source of financial and organizational support was myself and my business, The Secondhand Shop. In the past five and a half months I have given 1,077 unpaid hours of work to the establishment and operation of SACTAPP. Further, I have given all of the profits of my business (though amounting to only $186.17 since February 1st) into SACTAPP coffers. In May I did a one-day door-to-door solicitation for donations that raised $41. Then, in mid-June I began placing donation jars in stores throughout the area. In the past month those jars have collected $48.84.
    So, SACTAPP’s total income has been $276.01, Feb. 1 – July 15. Of that, $34 was given to the Sister Mary O’Donnell Homeless Shelter in Presque Isle, $70 was given to the gentleman I mentioned, and the balance of $172.01 is in a trust account at Barnes Law Office in Houlton.
    It was a mistake to ever have my name given in the article about SACTAPP that was published in this paper on June 23. The project might have succeeded without my name connected to it. Sadly, because of the bigotry of some, I now gravely doubt it will ever succeed with me involved. Since the article, I’ve had several storeowners or managers refuse to display the donation jars who previously had accepted them. When I asked for a donation from the Salvation Army Captain, he called the police to have me removed from their headquarters (though I had not been in any way out-of-line or inappropriate)! Some have been quoted to me by others as saying the donation jars were “offensive.”
    So, I am done with it; I quit! For my own better health I cannot further give my time and efforts to something I see as so noble only to see it fail because I was its agent. If anyone else in southern Aroostook thinks this project worthy of continuing, please contact me and I will give the donation jars, trust account balance and all to you. Again, I do sincerely thank all who have supported this cause from the beginning with your kind donations. I sincerely hope that someone will take this up and go forward with it, for the sake of the many in this area who, like “T” can find no help elsewhere.
Gary E. Schillinger
Houlton