WESTBROOK, Maine — The Community Center in Westbrook is essential to the City. Hundreds of people, daily, depend on it's services.
Pre-K, before and after school care, daily activities and a food pantry are just some of the services the center provides.
All of it was threatened Monday, January 14th, when a fire started in the electrical room, causing significant damage to the building's electrical system.
It was a fire Westbrook Fire Chief Andrew Turcotte says could have been a lot worse. "Had it been 2 a.m., and if the fire had a head start, it could have been a much worse situation for us."
The fire will force the building to remain closed for weeks.
Greg Post, the Acting Director of Community Services, says the closure will have an impact on residents, but they're minimizing the effects thanks to the community's help. "The good thing is the community has already rallied behind us, so we found a way to continue with some of our operations already."
One of those programs is Meals on Wheels.
When Westbrook's Little League President heard about the fire, he offered to pitch in and allow Meals on Wheels to use it's garage space.
Arty LeDoux, the Public Service's operations manager, spent the Tuesday morning moving freezers from the Community Center, across the street to Little League's garage and snack shack.
LeDoux says "they'll work in the conference room on the backside of the building to get meals ready and then all of their freezers are right here [inside the garage]. They didn't skip a beat."
Greg Post says the community's response has been heartwarming but not surprising. "We've seen it time and time again how they rally around each other. I can't imagine you find that support anywhere else."
The City of Westbrook is hoping to have a solution in place for it's food pantry and child care programs by Wednesday.