Kat Wright headlines celebration to honor longtime Dismas director

When Richard Gagne, then 27, joined an informal committee four decades ago to discuss expanding volunteer opportunities to assist people in prison in Vermont, his rookie career path already indicated a strong interest in helping people.

“Facilitating reconciliation through intentional community spoke to me,” Gagne said about his joining that committee led by Rita Whalen McCaffrey. “I knew I could make it my life’s work.”

Gagne, newly arrived in Burlington after directing a homeless shelter in Manchester, N.H., took a winding path to find his true passion. Intending to become a pilot with the U.S. Air Force after graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1979, he found he couldn’t, in good faith, serve in the military.

A grueling decision led him to become a conscientious objector, and he then taught high school math in a poor community in Mississippi and, for a time, was a novice in a Trappist monastery with the goal of becoming a monk.

Now, 40 years later, Gagne is the longest-tenured director of Dismas of Vermont’s two Chittenden County houses in Burlington and Winooski while also raising three children and building a home in Cambridge. He retired April 15.

While he anticipates pursuing his other passion, custom woodworking, he leaves with a sense that much work remains to help people on the margins of society reintegrate and become contributing members of society.

Dismas of Vermont operates five transitional housing programs across the state. These programs provide newly released prisoners with a chance to live in a structured home setting and reintegrate into the community. Nearly 500 local volunteers are engaged in the houses almost every day, including countless college interns, as well as international Volunteers for Peace.

“I can’t imagine having lived my life any other way,” the white-haired, bearded, soft-spoken Gagne said recently.

A celebration to honor Gagne’s contributions will take place on Saturday, May 4, at 6:30 p.m. at the Elley Long Music Center in Colchester as part of the Burlington Dismas 37th annual community celebration. McCaffrey, founder of Dismas of Vermont, will present Gagne with the Jack Hickey Award.

Hickey founded the first Dismas House in the nation in Nashville and was integral in bringing Vermont’s first Dismas House to fruition.

This year’s event features musical guest Kat Wright backed by her band. Food and drink trucks will be at the event. All proceeds will benefit the programs of Burlington Dismas House.

Tickets are $50 online and $65 at the door. Go to bit.ly/49yrvaU or call 802-658-0381.