Community support sought for Sebec Reading Room kitchen

SEBEC — Tucked in along the banks of the Sebec River where the glorious Sebec Lake terminates, the Sebec Reading Room sits quietly day after day, week after week, year after year, maintained and improved by the local volunteers organized as the Sebec Village Associates.

For more than 75 years, the Sebec Village Associates has embraced their task of serving the community, and serve they do. People from the local area and visitors from away flock to events like the annual July 4 races and chicken barbecue and fall Apple Festival. From May to December the year is punctuated with deliciously satisfying meals that end with unparalleled home-baked goods while maintaining the community library within this same building.

Now, after decades of preparing and serving the county’s best food, the kitchen is in dire need of a serious renovation. Handed down counters and boxes that are hung as cabinets without doors have become grossly inadequate — the cement floor has become the scourge of volunteers’ backs.

After more than three quarters of a century supporting the community at 665 Sebec Village Road in the heart of Sebec Village, the Sebec Village Associates are in serious need of support from the community. In a word, the Sebec Village Associates need money and lots of it! They need to bring their ancient kitchen into the 21st century to continue what they do so well, bring the community together with food and fun so they can pay it forward.

In all the years of sustaining the Sebec Reading Room, the financial need has never been so great. In the recent past, selling meals and baked goods has allowed the Sebec Village Associates to redo the barbecue pit, update the foundation of the building, repair a collapsed floor, add a handicapped access ramp and more, but these projects are dwarfed by the financial commitment of upgrading a kitchen that can serve well over 200 meals in a single event.

Please consider a donation to the Sebec Village Associates for this necessary mission. Checks written to “SVA” can be mailed c/o Joan Baird, 87 Sunset Drive, Sebec, ME 04481. Individuals or businesses who can donate cabinets, countertops and other viable kitchen accoutrements are encouraged to contact Baird as well at 564-8526.