CENTRAL, SOUTHERN MAINE

Shriners clinic helps youths who have health conditions

The Kora Shriners will sponsor a screening clinic from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at three central and southern Maine locations for children, ages 18 and younger, who are in need of care for orthopaedic conditions, burn injuries, spinal cord injuries, or cleft lips and palates.

The specialized care is offered at Shriners Hospitals for Children, where the care is provided regardless of a family’s ability to pay, or whether they have insurance coverage or a relationship to a Shriner.

No appointments are necessary. The screening will take place at Central Maine Medical Center Family Medicine Residency at 76 High St., Lewiston; Redington-Fairview Hospital at 46 Fairview Avenue, Skowhegan; and the Midcoast Rehabilitation Center at 329 Bath Road, Brunswick.

For more information, contact Tim Luttrell at 754-4706 or Kora Shriners at 782-6831, or go to www.shrinershospitalsforchildren.org.

FALMOUTH

Cooperative Extension offers youth programming

The University of Maine Cooperative Extension in Cumberland County will offer four new youth 4-H summer programs, designed to teach life skills through hands-on work as the youth development arm of UMaine Extension. Each program will meet once a week, for five consecutive weeks.

• Kids Can Can, for ages 9-14, meets in Falmouth from 9 a.m. to noon Wednesdays, beginning July 11. Cost is $10. Participants will learn how to grow and preserve the garden’s harvest in outdoor and indoor settings.

• Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse is also for ages 9-14, meeting in Falmouth from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Wednesdays, starting July 11. The cost is $10. Participants will learn tips for surviving without electricity, how to prepare for common natural disasters, and sheltering in place. A Kids Can Can SPIN club is available, too.

• Cloverbud STEAM, for ages 5-8, meets in Raymond from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Thursdays, starting July 12. The program is free. Participants will learn about sounds and vibrations, counting and spending play money, and how to do an art project. Each week will focus on a different letter of the STEAM acronym.

• Fun With Horses, for ages 9-18, meets in Windham from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Thursdays, starting July 12. The cost is $20. This will be an unmounted program focusing on various aspects of horse care. Participants will learn about horse behavior; safety around horses; how to groom, braid and bathe a horse; how to halter and lead; and how to clean stalls.

For more information or to register, go to umaine.edu/cumberland/programs/cumberland-county-4-h/4-h-summer-spin/. Registration fees cover the cost of all materials. Register by June 18.

People with disabilities or who need an accommodation to participate in these programs should call Sara Conant at 781-6099 or 800-287-1471 in Maine. For more information, call 781-6099 or email sara.conant@maine.edu.

WELLS

Team of educators raises $720 for autism funding

A group of special educators and others from Wells Junior High School participated in an annual statewide walk on April 29 to raise awareness and funding for autism.

Originating from the University of New England in Biddeford, the newly formed WJHS Bridges Team walked 2 miles in rainy weather, raising $720.

Proceeds from this event will help fund the Autism Society of Maine programs that support families in Maine.

LIBERTY

Topsham student awarded $1,000 in watercolor contest

Katie Trebilcock of Topsham is the 2018 winner of the Liberty Graphics T-shirts 21st annual art contest, which is open to all Maine high school seniors. The student contestants submitted an array of fine watercolor paintings.

Trebilcock received a $1,000 scholarship for her watercolor painting titled “Art and our Natural Environment.”

FREEPORT

Falmouth junior gets prize at annual poetry contest

Falmouth junior Blake Knox earned the top prize at the 11th annual Merriconeag Poetry Festival, held April 29 at Maine Coast Waldorf School in Freeport.

Blake’s poem “Fickle Flames May Burn Brighter” edged runner-up Deering High School senior Janessa Roberts’ piece, titled “I’m Problematic.” Third place went to Morse High School senior Nina Keyes for her poem “Roses are red, violets are blue.”

The prize winners were among 20 poets selected by judge Stuart Kestenbaum, Maine’s current poet laureate, to read their work at the festival, which was attended by more than 100 poetry lovers. Kestenbaum selected the finalists in a blind process; submissions had no identifying names or school affiliations, only each poem’s title.

The other finalists included: from Cape Elizabeth, Makena Deveraux and Raina Sparks; from Morse High School, Sidonia Stanton and Elizabeth Schotten; from Maine Coast Waldorf School, Myah Garrison, Wilson Haims, Miles Lloyd and Charles Van West; from Falmouth High School, Emma Auer, Ella Coffin, Kayla Ford, Sophie Magadieu, Naomi Radtke Rowe and Claudia Spelman; from Spruce Mountain High School, Acacia Fournier; from Gorham High School, Grace Flynn; and from North Yarmouth Academy, Jackie Ellsworth. This is the second year that Emma Auer, Wilson Haims and Raina Sparks have earned finalist honors.

After presenting their winning poems, students received a booklet of all the finalists’ pieces and a gift certificate from a local bookstore.

The top prize winners have had their poems printed on a large poster that will be distributed to the nearly 50 public and private high schools whose students were invited to submit work.

BATH

Catholic Charities Maine volunteer earns distinction

Linda Hjortland, who has served as a volunteer with Catholic Charities Maine’s SEARCH program for 11 years, was named one of seven finalists from around the country for the 2018 Catholic Charities USA Volunteer of the Year Award.

The SEARCH program, short for “Seek Elderly Alone, Renew Courage and Hope,” connects older adults with community volunteers who provide companionship and assist with daily tasks such as shopping, traveling to appointments, or dinner and a movie. The program is more than 40 years old with over 100 volunteers who provide about 10,000 hours of support each year.

Hjortland spends time visiting with her clients weekly and is dedicated to helping her clients remain living independently in their own homes.

For more details, go to www.ccmaine.org/search-program-elderly-services or call 784-0157.

BIDDEFORD

High school senior earns Student of the Year award

Biddeford High School senior Ashlin Ruel was recognized as the Biddeford Regional Center of Technology Student of the Year at the annual Maine Administrators of Career and Technical Education ceremony.

Ruel is enrolled in the medical sciences program and recently placed first with her team at the State SkillsUSA competition in Bangor for health knowledge.

Ruel is in the top 10 of her graduating class, the president of Interact Club, a student mentor and sits on the BRCOT Student Leadership Council. She is also a member of the “Be the Change” Team and National Technical Honor Society. Outside of school, Ruel previously volunteered for Saco Meals on Wheels and plans to attend the University of Southern Maine next fall to study nursing.

SCARBOROUGH

Garden club seeks plants for its annual fundraiser

Isn’t it time to dig up and divide some of those perennial plants that are overtaking the garden?

The Scarborough Gardening Club is offering to provide this service for residents in exchange for the donation of excess plants to its annual plant sale, to be held on June 2 at Hunnewell House at 83 Black Point Road. Participants just need to make the donation and Gardening Club members will do the work.

The plant sale is the club’s biggest fundraiser of the year. The money raised is used for numerous charitable donations ranging from SMCC horticulture scholarships to contributing to Project Grace and the Scarborough Land Trust.

The deadline is May 21. For more details, call Pat at 396-4233.