by Jiameng Sun ’20

Standing in front of the First Baptist Church of Waterville in September, I felt anxious, wondering if I could fit in with the people I was about to meet. As a 20-year-old born and raised in China, I had never been to an American church. I took a deep breath and knocked at the door. A man wearing glasses greeted me with a warm smile, and my anxiety suddenly disappeared. I introduced myself as a new volunteer, and he firmly shook my hand and told me that his name is Warren Doersam. During the last few months of volunteering, I have seen that Warren is always happy and caring. His kindness to others not only helped me feel comfortable but also inspires the customers of the Saturday Sandwich Program. 

Though Warren now happily dedicates himself to helping others, he vividly remembers a dark stage of his life. He drank a lot of alcohol every day, and his wife was going to divorce him. Warren felt helpless and hopeless about his life until a chance conversation with his accountant. Warren told his accountant what he was going through and can only remember one thing the accountant said in response: “You need Jesus.” Warren met with a pastor and started to go to church every week. He felt the love of God and decided to become a Christian. With God’s help, he hasn’t had one drop of alcohol since. Warren decided to bring God’s love to others and served as a chaplain in several Maine prisons for over forty years. 

Warren wanted to keep helping others and teaching others about God after he retired. He decided to join the Saturday Sandwich Program after meeting with Ronald Woodbrey, the program’s founder. 

As a natural optimist, Warren tries to cheer people up when they come to the sandwich program. Though it is a quick process for customers to get their bagged meals, Warren still greets every customer warmly when they come in. Most customers didn’t talk much when they first go to the sandwich program, but Warren kept greeting them and telling short jokes to make everyone in the room happy. After a while, most customers started to talk more, shared their life stories, and became friends with Warren and other volunteers. This year, one of the customers got cancer. During his final days, he still came to the sandwich program to talk with Warren and other volunteers who had become his friends and his emotional support. 

Warren has a strong faith in God. His purpose in the sandwich program is to help people and teach people about Christianity if they want to learn about it. As he explained to me, “God wants us to love him, but he doesn’t force us to love him. He sacrifices his son to show that he loves us, but not to push us to love him. That’s what we should do.”