The Franco Center will show the film, “Building Hope,” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 11. Admission is free. The evening will include a panel of several professionals who will discuss homelessness.

BUILDING HOPE: Ending Homelessness in Maine tells us that there is hope to ending the suffering of homelessness. The film begins with the story of Aneyva, a 30-year old woman with two children, a former early childhood educator with two college degrees. The pandemic caused her to lose her job, her home, and her children. She now lives in Bangor’s Tent City, homeless.

Amelia, an employed, hard working contractor, suffered the trauma of domestic violence leading to her loss of housing. After two years of homelessness with her high school-aged daughter, she found the help of Homeworthy (formerly the Knox County Homeless Coalition) and now has a home, continues in her job, and has re-started her apothecary business.

James, whose grandmother found him a paper route, was making $100/week. His friends selling cocaine were making $4-500/day. The money was enticing. So he began delivering drugs leading to being “popped” by the cops. He spent nearly 25 years in prison. Homeless when released he found help with the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter. Now, with the help of a government Section 8 voucher, he has an apartment in Bangor owned by Community Housing of Maine (CHOM) and a job at Chipotle.

BUILDING HOPE explores these stories and more of those caught in the daily crisis of homelessness. With the help of leading state advocates, many have risen above their circumstances to find housing and jobs and are becoming productive members of society. Others, due to chance, mental illness and substance use disorder, have yet to succeed.

Today, it is even more difficult due to the dearth of affordable housing and the influx of asylum seekers taking up so many of the beds at our cities’ shelters. The film explores the whys and hows our society can heal the suffering. Maine’s Speaker of the House Rachel Talbot Ross talks about her own vulnerabilities growing up, and, with the $30 million dollars that she has led the state legislature to invest in affordable housing, there is hope. Maine’s Independent U.S. Senator Angus King addresses the inadequacies of our minimum wage and the government tax incentive bills he co-sponsors to give confidence to developers to create affordable housing and emergency shelters. Developers Collaborative’s Kevin Bunker, the force behind building Portland’s new Homeless Services Center and Asylum Seekers Center, talks about the root causes of inequality in our system. Preble Street’s Mark Swann laments over Portland’s sweeps of encampments, yet his hope “springs eternal.” Community Housing of Maine’s director, Cullen Ryan, makes crystal clear the damage that is done both to individuals without housing and to our society as a whole, and yet, “there is hope.”

A “voice from poverty,” Dr. Donna Beegle, closes the film with the plea: “There’s nothing that matches making a difference for your fellow human beings. … Let me use what’s in my hands … to see if I can’t leave you in a better place.” We can all make a difference. There is hope.