BANGOR, Maine — Ashley Ouellette can’t afford to see a dentist.
The 27-year-old Bangor woman studies 25 to 30 hours a week when she isn’t taking classes electronically at the University of Maine-Machias or mothering her three young children. She and her fiance, a sales rep at Sears, pour their money into food, housing and the children.
Dental work “is so expensive for us,” Ouellette said Saturday. “There are a couple of places that offer sliding fee scales, but you have to have it [the money] ready when you get the service. Forty dollars doesn’t sound like a lot of money, but it’s a large amount when you have three children.”
“It’s the economy,” she added. “It’s difficult to be in the middle class.”
So Ouellette jumped at the opportunity to get some free dental work at the Day of Hope event at the Bangor Waterfront on Saturday. Thanks to the triage system run by Drs. Mark Carreira, Travis Buxton and Brad Rand — among 40 volunteer medical professionals at the event — she got her teeth cleaned and a cavity filled.
“I don’t like going to the dentist,” Ouellette said. “Who does? But I am grateful for the opportunity. I would never have been able to afford this otherwise.”
A half-dozen churches and the city held the event, the first Day of Hope ever held in Bangor, and one of a dozen Day of Hope events to be held in the Northeast on Saturday. Founded in 1994 by Convoy of Hope, an international charity based in Springfield, Missouri, more than 63 million worldwide have been served and helped by Convoy of Hope.
Free groceries, clothing, winter coats and services, including haircuts, manicures, and health and dental screenings were available at the carnivalesque event. About 2,500 people had joined the convoy by noon, a figure that pleased Day of Hope Assistant Coordinator Travis Bogan.
“We really didn’t know what to expect,” Bogan said, “so this is great. We would like to see it become an annual event.”
Day of Hope also featured a Kid’s Zone with bounce houses, games, live music and free food because organizers wanted it to have an air of celebration, Bogan said.
It was celebratory for Michele Powers. The 44-year-old grocery clerk, who helps her husband deliver newspapers and cares for his stepson when she isn’t working, got her nails done for free. A manicure is something, she said, that she usually cannot afford. The last time she had one was for a relative’s wedding in May, she said.
The lines for the free food, dentistry and manicures and haircuts were long. The length of the dentistry line impressed Carreira. He estimated that about 200 people had their teeth checked from 9 a.m. to noon. At one point, 80 people could be counted in line.
“There are a lot of people in need. Lots of need here,” he said.
“That was us not too long ago,” said 40-year-old Darlene Carreira, his wife.
Mrs. Carreira, who was assisting with checkups, said her family went through layoffs when her 40-year-old husband worked as an electrician. She said they were working the event “to show the community that we care.
“We are reaching out in hopes that this will go beyond one day and people will look at this event and say, ‘look at the need here,’” Carreira said. “Hopefully they will have more compassion for people in need. It’s so easy to just drive by.”