As chair of the Scarborough Senior Without Walls Outreach Committee, I’d like to thank the people who have made our outreach programs a success this past year. First, of course, to the Outreach Committee volunteers – Joyce Joy, Julie Renna and Pat Corea, their dedication to Scarborough seniors helped make our programs successful.

I would also like to thank the “Scarborough Prepares” team for helping us bring important information to Scarborough residents this past October regarding disaster relief and prevention. The team consisted of members of the Scarborough Emergency Management Agency (Chief Mike Thurlow), the Cumberland County Emergency Mangement Agency (Ann Marie Brett) and the American Red Cross (Dave Francoeur) and was moderated by Mark Maroon. Thanks also to the many volunteers who baked cakes, cookies and brownies for Gary’s House in Portland and who donated seven boxes of personal care and household items for the McAuley House.

We also appreciate the cooperation and assistance from Scarborough youth with our projects. The Scarborough Key Club held computer classes for the seniors, and Girl Scout troop 1180 helped us with the Gary’s House and the McAuley projects. Thanks to our senior volunteers, we were able to offer activities to the Bessworth preschoolers making May baskets and teddy bears. Scarborough’s children were also entertained by Dana Perkins at our annual “Bring Your Grandchildren Day.”

We are grateful also to the staff of the Scarborough Public Library for their help with the “101 Series” held in May. Nancy, Celeste and Catherine have been instrumental in making the series a success. Thanks to the presenters of the series: John Lewis for his Scarborough History 101, Jackie Perry of Ace Hardware for Simple Home Repairs 101, Pat Corea from the Scarborough Garden Club for Container Gardening 101 and Catherine Morrison from the library for Web Searching 101. We will be continuing this series both at the library and “on location” in the fall.

Thanks also to Phil Maynard of Scarborough Cable Television who has offered continuing computer classes and also to our bus driver, Lloyd, for picking people up and taking them to our events, and to Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, and also for keeping the out to lunch bunch happy by providing transportation for both groups. And, of course, to Terri from Community Services, who provides the enthusiasm and excitement in our planning. Working with 31 volunteers from all the committees keeps her very busy, and yet she finds the time to meet our needs.

It is the intention of the Senior WOW Outreach Committee to provide programs for our town’s seniors and to encourage them to be an integral part of our community both as participants in our programs and also as seniors who give back to their community. We appreciate all the help we have received from Community Services, the volunteers, and the various town agencies who helped make this happen this past year.

Linda Bidler

Scarborough