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Nonprofit That Lost Its Offices In Farmington Explosion Finds A Temporary Home

The nonprofit organization that was displaced when its offices were destroyed Monday in a propane explosion in Farmingtonhas a new home for the time being.

The Western Maine Development Group has offered space to LEAP Inc, rent-free. LEAP supports people with developmental, cognitive and intellectual disabilities. Western Maine co-owner Gil Reed says that when they bought the former G.H. Bass building in Wilton years ago, the aim was not to make money, but to keep people in the area and give them a place to work.

“This seemed to fit,” Reed says. “These people are in dire need. They're our neighbors, and it just seemed like the right thing to do.”

Reed says Leap plans to move into part of the space vacated by Barclays when it closed its Wilton call center earlier this year. He says LEAP can stay in the space as long as it needs to.

Ed is a Maine native who spent his early childhood in Livermore Falls before moving to Farmington. He graduated from Mount Blue High School in 1970 before going to the University of Maine at Orono where he received his BA in speech in 1974 with a broadcast concentration. It was during that time that he first became involved with public broadcasting. He served as an intern for what was then called MPBN TV and also did volunteer work for MPBN Radio.