In mid-October, the water heater that services the Boothbay Region Community Center at the small mall failed, leaving the center with an unforeseen expense, and without a source of hot water.

When the teachers and educational support professionals of the Boothbay Region Education Association heard of the plight, they voted to authorize up to $500 toward the necessary repairs. When the repairs were completed, just before Thanksgiving, the center was looking at a bill of around $1,100.

On Monday, Dec. 21, BREA President Mark Gorey and Secretary Debbie Mellor delivered a check for $500 to help defray the expense.

“It was a unanimous vote to do this,” Gorey said. “We feel the center is a valuable resource in the community.”

The staff of the center were very thankful for the donation.

“It's such a generous thing for the BREA to do,” said Jane Good, Director of the Community Center. “So many members of this community have reached out when we've needed them.”

The Boothbay Region Community Center currently has 33 different people teaching classes five days a week, and there are 15 volunteers on staff who donate their free time to help run the center. In the past three months, visitors to the center numbered 490 (September.), 588 (October), and 714 (November). And that only counts those who signed the visitors book.

The Community Center's staff and volunteers feels that one of the most important aspects of the Center so far is that it has given so many people a sense of purpose again. This is something that many have lost, thus they see the Center as a growing and vital element of the social fabric of the Boothbay region community.

Skip L'Heureux and Debbie Mellor contributed to this article.