An exterior view Saturday of the North Fairfield Friends Meeting House in Fairfield. Volunteers are helping clean the Quaker meeting house to help the Jewish nonprofit, Mifneh L’Kedushah, which hopes to reopen the space in the spring as a multi-faith community space. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

FAIRFIELD — Off Middle Road, up a grassy parking lot and through tall turquoise doors, a Quaker meeting house sits unused. Its name has stayed the same since 1784, but the building’s interior shows a succession of committed caretakers over the centuries: rows of cushioned pews, working light fixtures, a brassy ticking clock and books strewn about as if discarded yesterday, or the day before.

In reality, those books were put aside seven years ago, when the North Fairfield Friends Meeting House doors closed because the congregation could no longer support the space. Jewish nonprofit Mifneh L’Kedushah hopes to reopen those doors this spring as a multi-faith community center, working with local Quaker groups to envision a space that pays respect to its history, said Dr. Sonja Birthisel, board president of the nonprofit.

“The Quakers as a larger group were hoping that somehow a sort of spiritual or religious or community-oriented organization might step forward to take on the project of maintaining this old building and using it for new community purposes,” Birthisel said. “It has been sitting, kind of awaiting new life for the last seven years.”

The nonprofit is in the process of purchasing the deed to the property for $18, a significant number in Judaism because of its numerical value as the Hebrew letter chai, meaning “life.” While the regional Quaker organization, the New England Yearly Meeting, approved the building’s transfer in May, it has taken months to locate the deed, which was filed before the state of Maine or Somerset County existed.

The property includes the meeting house, a small parking lot and Friend Cemetery, a burial space that is still actively maintained by its original caretakers, Friend Cemetery Association.

Inside the meeting house, the 1,700-square-foot upper levels include a main sanctuary space, choir loft and narthex, the enclosed porch often found at the entrance of church buildings. There is also a basement with a kitchen and sleeping space.

The nonprofit’s vision for the center includes hosting activities like community dinners and concerts, but Birthisel said that most of the ideas should come from community members.

People sit in a circle singing songs Saturday after lunch at the North Fairfield Friends Meeting House in Fairfield. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

“I’m really open to what people in the wider community want place and space for,” Birthisel said. “I’ve talked to some people who are excited about leading dance classes or doing community dinners or hosting open mic nights or hosting worship services. I’m really open to and excited about all of those ideas in the works.”

Joey LeBlanc, a Fairfield resident who grew up right up the road from the meeting house, said he’s always hoped that the building would have new residents.

“I’ve always seen this place not really being used, so the first thing that comes to mind is just how excited I am for it to have life in it,” LeBlanc said. “It’s a place I’ve always imagined about, and to be in it is really amazing. I also think Fairfield needs more positive community spaces, and I’m really excited for it to be that.”

The Vassalboro Quarterly Meeting has kept up the building since it was emptied, ensuring that it is winterized and stays free of leaks and pests, but some renovations are still needed, including plumbing work and roof patching.

Alex Hennings measures Saturday to install a new strikeplate as he and other volunteers work to fix the front doors at the North Fairfield Friends Meeting House in Fairfield. Volunteers are helping clean the Quaker meeting house to help the Jewish nonprofit, Mifneh L’Kedushah, which hopes to reopen the space in the spring as a multi-faith community space.  Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

All other reconfigurations will be determined by input from the community, volunteer availability and potential funding opportunities, Birthisel said, which may include historic preservation grants, local partnerships and renting out the space.

North Fairfield Friends Meeting House was first established by Quaker settlers in 1784, weaving a legacy of over 200 years of spiritual mission and community life. When the building closed seven years ago, remaining congregants consolidated with another church, but Birthisel said that they didn’t sell the original meeting house for fear that it might be developed for real estate.

Since then, the local historical society has been asking around about nonprofits that might want the space. LeBlanc’s mother, who owns Quaker Hill Disc Golf down the road, called LeBlanc last September to see if he knew of any nonprofits. LeBlanc was sitting at the breakfast table with Birthisel when he got the call.

Morning coffee forgotten, Birthisel said she immediately expressed interest in the building and dialed Rabbi Benjamin Gorelick, spiritual leader at Mifneh L’Kedushah.

“So I get on the phone with Ben, and I’m like, ‘We want an old church, right?’” Birthisel said. “And he was like, ‘Probably, yes.’ And I was like, ‘Joey we want the old church,’ and he sort of giggles into his phone and is like, ‘Yeah, I might know some nonprofits.’”

Since that first phone call, the nonprofit has spent over a year building relationships and working through logistics. Those close to the project fondly refer to the space as “the old meeting house,” but Birthisel said she is open to a new name that feels right for the historical context, including its Quaker stewardship and the Indigenous history of the land.

Maura McCampbell sorts through old craft supplies Saturday in the basement of the North Fairfield Friends Meeting House in Fairfield. Volunteers are helping clean the Quaker meeting house to help the Jewish nonprofit, Mifneh L’Kedushah, which hopes to reopen the space in the spring as a multi-faith community space. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

One community volunteer, Dana Smyth, traveled all the way from Rhode Island to help fix up the center on the Nov. 22 weekend. Smyth said she hopes to visit the space often to help lead meditation programs and song circles.

“I’m all about promoting open spiritual spaces that are welcoming to everybody, it’s one of my biggest life purposes,” Smyth said. “So being able to come up and help out and create a space where everyone feels welcome, no matter what their background or religion is, is really beautiful.”

As nonprofit organizers and community volunteers work to get the center ready by this spring, Birthisel said she is looking forward to creating a space with imagination and intention.

“I’m excited about the process — not just finding and plugging into a church or a synagogue or a thing that sort of already exists, but to, with a group of people, really be imagining,” Birthisel said. “We have the opportunity here to build a spiritual community and a spiritual home that’s what we want and everything that we’ve hoped and dreamed. I’m really joyful about the possibility of creating something that’s new and fresh and beautiful.”