AUBURN – What do Lewiston and Auburn have in common with the Millinocket area. The answer is: working people helping one another.
Twin Cities for One Maine was adopted by local people as a theme for a fund-raiser to offset the adverse effects of the paper mills shutdown in the Millinocket area.
The group is planning a spaghetti supper in Auburn on April 26 to benefit Millinocket area families affected by the four-month closing of the former Great Northern mills. The group’s spokesman, Ed Desgrosseilliers, said Gov. John Baldacci and U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine, have made commitments to help with the fund-raising effort.
“The governor will supply and help to serve the spaghetti,” Desgrosseilliers said. Mama Baldacci’s restaurant in Bangor will cater the event with food for several hundred people. Graziano’s Restaurant of Lisbon will donate additional food if necessary.
“Although this idea originated during a meeting of the Democratic City Committee, it moved to become a non-partisan event as we rallied to the Governor’s One Maine theme and sought to include all the citizens of the surrounding area in this cause,” said Desgrosseilliers, who serves as chairman of Auburn Democratic City Committee.
“It’s taking a turn for the good now but some people still need help,” he said, referring to recent news that some of the laid-off workers may soon be called back to work.
Most of Great Northern’s 1,130 employees were laid off when mills in Millinocket and East Millinocket shut down in December, a month before the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
At the time, Quebec-based Inexcon had owned Great Northern since 1999. Another Canadian company, Brascan Corp. of Toronto, has purchased the two mills. Brascan’s United States holdings include Fraser Paper in Madawaska.
“We are concerned that the recent ‘good news’ of the paper mill’s pending sale would overshadow the deep, continuing need that exists as a result of the unexpected shut-down,” Desgrosseilliers said.
Although the pending sale is encouraging, full re-employment of the more than 1,100 people displaced by the shutdown is not expected in the near future, he said.
There are programs in place that provide assistance, but those funds and supplies are being rapidly depleted by the sustained unemployment, other business closures and a long, cold winter, he said.
Also, electric service bills delayed by state law through the winter months will soon be due for payment.
The event will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday, April 26, at the Hasty Community Center in Auburn’s Pettingill Park. Tickets are available in Lewiston at $5 each at Victor News on Park Street and Simones’ Hot Dog Stand on Chestnut Street. Volunteers will also sell tickets outside Wal-Mart in Auburn from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.
For additional information or to purchase tickets contact Ed or Sheila Desgrosseilliers at 777-3125 or 754-8133.
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