By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

Some people only dream of landing a job that they love and showing up five days a week to do something they find both satisfying and interesting. 

Some people are fortunate enough to have a job that doesn’t seem like work, and co-workers who seem like family. 

That is how Carmen Lone and Lorraine Goldrup describe their work experience at the Bridgton Community Center. 

“I say to myself, ‘I cannot believe I get paid to do this,’” Lone said. 

Lone has been the executive director at the BCC for the past two decades, for 20 years. She is retiring on June 30. So is the woman who worked alongside her for 18 years — Lorraine Goldrup. Both are retiring at the end of the month. A retirement party is being held next week. 

During a sit-down interview, Lone turned to Goldrup and asked, “Who are you going to miss the most?” 

“I am going to miss everybody,” Goldrup answered. “I am not going to miss you because I am going to see you. We are going to have breakfast and coffee together.”

Lone quipped that she had cleared a space on her deck in anticipation of Goldrup’s visits. 

“She is not just my boss,” Goldrup said. “She’s my friend. She’s like family. We have shared sorrows and joys together. We will be in touch. You do keep in touch with your family.”

In the past 20 years, Lone and Goldrup have had a front row seat to the many transitions at the center, shifts in services as dictated by the community’s needs, and the grant funded renovations to the center.

“To think over the years, you and I always had a can-do attitudeand tried to be welcoming for everybody,” Lone said.

Goldrup agreed. 

“Yes, we always wanted it to be a warm, welcoming place — even for someone who was only waiting for the bus,” she said. 

On Wednesday, June 22, a retirement celebration was held at the center.

“We shared a lot of things: Different ideas that we would bounce off one another. You had my back; and I had yours,” Goldrup said.

“You mostly had mine. I am more needy than you are,” Lone said. “She is the personable one. I am the problem solver.” 

Farewells are in Order 

“I’ve been thinking about if I had to give a farewell speech and it was a perfect one, what would be in my farewell speech,” Lone said. “We have been really lucky to have amazing volunteers, amazing community people who come in with talents and ideas for programs. We have had an awesome board of directors that is very supportive. They didn’t micromanage us. The other great part is the community support, both financially and when we need something special done. If we are low on funds for the fuel assistance program, we make a plea to the public and people come forward and donate.”

“Thank you to everyone who shared their stories with us,” Lone said.

Goldrup said, “And, they did share stories with us.”

“Incredible stories,” Lone added. 

Goldrup expounded. 

“You never knew who is going to come through the door and what they are going to need. Sometimes, they just need a hug,” she said. 

“This place is about people. It is all about people,” Lone said. 

“It isn’t about us,” Goldrup said. “It is about the people. I found my niche. This is what I wanted to be doing. I love coming to work. There is no stress. I always felt good about it.” 

The weekly senior luncheon illustrates the importance of the center because it gives people a place to socialize.  

“For a lot of them who come here, it is more the fellowship than the food. They enjoy the fellowship and being with their friends,” Goldrup said. 

Both women commented on how much they will miss those social offerings that brought people together. 

“It is bittersweet. Of course, I know that it is time to retire, but I might be going out and looking for a second job,” Goldrup said. 

She was half-joking. At age 86, she had promised her husband that she would retire and spend more time with him.

Lone, however, said she would seriously consider a post-retirement job. 

“I can only stand being with myself a certain period of time. We grew up in a generation where part of our self-worth is how productive we work,” she explained. 

She won’t be spending time worrying about how the community center is holding up without her leadership.  

Last year, Lone and Goldrup notified the board last year of their plans to retire this summer “because we wanted a smooth transition and for them to hire the right people.”

The board hired Darcey Pomerleau as the new executive director. Pomerleau started June 6.

“She is already wining the hearts of our people,” Lone said. 

“We are really excited about what is going to happen here in the future. It is time for a new generation to move it forward,” Lone said. “We worked hard and smart and did a good job and positioned it for a new group to take it in into the future.” 

What the Center is 

It started out as Healthy Maine Partnerships. That was prior to Lone becoming the executive director of what would become an active and thriving community center. 

HMP was funded by tobacco settlement money; and it focused on programs to help people quit smoking, to educate school-aged children to not smoke, and to promote healthy activities. Shortly after Lone was hired, the money dried up because the grants had expired, she said. 

“So, things changed. It was not about smoking cessation, addiction, nutrition programs and smoking education anymore. Instead, we focused on community-based programing, specifically for the Bridgton people,” Lone said. “The board wanted the community center to be more local: activities, food programs, and the ability for people to use the center.” 

In Lone’s estimation, it is the people who give their time that makes the community center flourish. 

“I think people like to be helpful. The community center was a conduit for people to do good things. People like to be helpful but they don’t know always know how or who needs help,” Lone said. “Most of the success relies on our volunteers. That is what truly makes us a community center.”

The services — including computers for public use and WIFI — have run the gamut from card game nights to informative workshops. 

“We do technical things like income tax. We invite AARP tax aids. They actually submit the taxes and they do them for free. We do flu clinics, COVID vaccination clinics, diabetic shoes clinics,” Lone said. “We do a little bit of everything. Actually, it is what the community needs at the time so we switch gears pretty quickly.” 

“This is a multi-generational community center,” Goldrup said, admitting she was stealing one of Lone’s frequently uttered phrases.

“The addition to the new playground has brought in a lot of young families,” Lone said. “It really gets used a lot. The chain-link fence provides a layer of protectionfor people with young children. It keeps toddlers from running off and keeps unwanted people out. A Community Development Block Grant helped to pay for the playground expansion about five years ago.”

 “We have three garden beds by the playground. They are snacking beds. One has all blueberries. The other one has all strawberries. And, the other one has cherry tomatoes. Kids can just go up and pick something and eat it.” 

That is new this year: snacking beds. 

“The oldest program we have here is senior lunch program,” she said. “It used to be 50 to 60 people pre-pandemic. Now, it’s down to 30 to 40 people in-house. We also provided lunch to go, and we deliver to people who can’t get here. That usually totals about 60 meals.”

“We have volunteers who drive. We have a very dependable, very reliable senior-lunch crew that prepares the meal and serves and sets up,” Lone said. “Gosh, they have been with us for years.”

During COVID, many of those volunteers stayed committed to serving their neighbors, she said. 

“During COVID, we had to learn how to serve the community if we could not gather. We did a lot of outreach. Lorraine had a list of phone numbers and she called people on a regular basis,” Lone said. 

“The older people were so isolated,” Goldrup said. “Just to hear a voice. Some of them would keep you on the phone for an hour.”

Lone said, “They were to happy to hear from us.”

Those conversations that happened during the COVID quarantineperiod might have been the uplifting moment in those people’s lives. 

“We have so many memories of this place, we could just go on and on,” Lone said. “We could tell you about all the characters who have been in and out of this building.”