NORWAY — Bids are already pouring in for the Progress Center’s online auction Jan. 22 to Feb. 5 to benefit its community kitchen.

“It’s a good way to get the word out and get participation from a lot of different people,” Priscilla Burnette of the Progress Center said.

Auction items have been donated by the Portland Symphony Orchestra, Portland Stage, Shawnee Peak, Cranmore Ski Resort, Element Day Spa, Ambiance Day Spa, Maurice Restaurant Francais, T.J. Maxx, The Raven Collection, and “Maine’s Other Author,” Tim Greaton. Other items will be listed as they are received, she said.

The Progress Center’s community kitchen opened at 35 Cottage St. in September 2011, bringing opportunities for economic growth and food for those in need. The facility includes a state-of-the-art kitchen, commercial food storage and space for patrons to dine.

The facility was developed through a $240,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development program, the Department of Economic and Community Development, and funding from many private organizations and individuals.

In 2010, the Norway Board of Selectmen unanimously supported the plan and voters approved a $120,000 Community Development Block Grant for the kitchen project.

The idea for a community kitchen started in 2008, when employee Liz Blaquiere recognized that more and more local people were struggling as the businesses they worked for downsized or closed. Blaquiere made a compelling case for a volunteer kitchen to serve more than 125 people free meals each week, she said.

Burnette said as plans were developed to build a permanent solution to help the needy, farmers and small businesses suggested they could supplement their incomes if they also had access to a licensed kitchen facility.

Burnette said the community kitchen is used to serve free meals to the needy four times a month, among other uses. It receives much of its food from the Good Shepherd Food-Bank. The kitchen is also rented to individuals and organizations for classes and functions.

Although the community has been very generous, the need for funding to keep the community kitchen going never ends, Burnette said.

“Fundraising will never stop for the kitchen,” she said. “Out of sight, out of my mind is not a good thing for nonprofits.”

The Progress Center has been serving hundreds of people with disabilities for the past 42 years, most recently on Cottage Street in several renovated buildings that were formerly a lumber yard.

Anyone who would like to submit a bid for an item can go to www.32auctions.com/ProgressCenter

For information about the auction, The Progress Center, or the Oxford Hills Community Kitchen, contact Burnette at 207-743-8049, ext. 266, or by email at priscillaburnette@progresscentermaine.org.

Burnette said she is also looking for more items for the auction.

ldixon@sunjournal.com