WATERVILLE — Through good times and lean, Dick Willette Sr. has run the Sacred Heart Soup Kitchen, ensuring thousands of needy people have had hot meals five days a week.

There were days during his 36 years of volunteering for the kitchen when he wasn’t sure he had enough money to feed the hungry for another month, so he’d dip into his own pocket to bail out the kitchen. When things got really tough, he appealed to the community and donors always came through.

While Willette, the soup kitchen director for the last 20 years, loves his work, he knows it is time to give up the reins and let someone younger take over.

“I’ve worked all my life and I just feel it’s time,” said Willette, who is 83.

He plans to retire from the soup kitchen Dec. 30 and hopes to find a replacement by Nov. 1, although he has had a difficult time finding someone willing to do it. “It might have to be two people – one to be treasurer and take care of the money and pay the bills, and the other one to run this place,” he said.

Willette is at the soup kitchen in the basement of Sacred Heart Church on Pleasant Street from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. five days a week, despite the fact that his legs are weak and he must use a walker to get around. About six years ago, his wife of 59 years, Grace, died, and he was devastated. But two years ago, he married Gloria Beaulieu, who owns and runs a food pantry in Fairfield Center and pays all of its expenses. They met when she delivered food to the soup kitchen. He said he wants to be able to travel with her while he can.

“I made up my mind,” he said. “I remarried. She’s a little younger and she hasn’t been anywhere, really, and we have a 31-foot travel camper and I plan to get done with no ties and travel to Florida and Alaska, take a trip and just enjoy a little bit of life.”

Monday through Friday, 80 to 140 people come to the kitchen to eat lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., according to Willette. He has 35 to 40 dedicated volunteers, many of whom have been there 20-plus years.

“I’ll be around,” he said. “I carry my cellphone and I’ll be around to answer questions. I’m not going to leave them in the lurch. Everyone seems to know what they’re doing.”

SPECIAL TALENTS

Willette’s shoes will be hard to fill, according to Paul McDonald, 79, who is a 22-year volunteer.

“The whole community here is going to miss him,” McDonald said. “He’s been stalwart. He’s organized; that’s the big thing. We can pick up things and sweep the floor, but to organize this kitchen takes special talents.”

Like Willette, McDonald said whenever things look bleak for the kitchen, people always pitch in to help with money or labor.

“It’s like there’s a blessing going on here,” he said.

Joan Phillips-Sandy accompanies students from Mount Merici Academy in Waterville to the soup kitchen every Wednesday during the school year to help serve food and clean up the dining room. She has done so for 31 years and knows Willette well.

“I can’t imagine this place without Dick,” Phillips-Sandy said, as sixth- and seventh-graders scooped food out of hot trays onto patrons’ plates this past Wednesday.

THE LONG HAUL

Willette, one of the soup kitchen’s founders, remembers the first day it was open – Sept. 17, 1980 – when several people came to eat.

It has been a struggle over the years. Four years ago, he was afraid the kitchen would have to close, but after stories appeared in the Morning Sentinel about the organization’s plight, people donated money, and that kept the kitchen afloat. But over time, that pot of money has dwindled.

“We’re not holding our own – we’re digging into our savings,” he said. “I’ve got about $50,000 to turn over to the new regime.”

The kitchen buys food from a food supplier in Greene and receives donations from Hannaford and Shaw’s supermarkets, as well as Mid-State Machine, United Way of Mid-Maine, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and others, he said.

Donations are always needed, he said.

“Waterville, Winslow and Oakland have used us good,” Willette said. “I still have some checks coming in. Some people send in $5 or $10 a month. It helps and it’s rewarding to them.”

Willette owned and operated Chase Fuel in Winslow for 52 years, sold the business and retired 15 years ago while still running the soup kitchen.

“I hate to get done,” he said. “I’d rather die here. This place takes care of people, and that’s our goal – to take care of people.”