The Bath Family YMCA will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its Freedom Tour Program Oct. 25 at the Maine Maritime Museum. The event will feature music and a silent auction.
“We’re long overdue in formally recognizing people who have made the Freedom Tour so successful,” said Charlie Ault, director of the Landing Y branch, in a news release.
The program features a week-long trip to historic sites in New York City, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC.
Stops include Ellis Island, Liberty Island and the Apollo Theater in New York, Constitution Hall, Gettysburg and Amish country in Pennsylvania and presidential monuments and war memorials, the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial and the Smithsonian and Holocaust museums in Washington.
There are three trips a year open to eighth graders from Bath and Mt. Ararat middle schools and Brunswick Junior High.
Corrinne Latti, now 22 years old and working in U.S. Congresswoman Chellie Pingree’s DC office, attended the tour as a child.
“As a kid, I thought George Washington was akin to a cartoon character, but the Freedom Tour changed that,” Latti said. “I look back on the tour and realize how it made clear to me that our nation’s institutions, such as the Constitution and the Supreme Court, are incredibly unique. During the tour I came to see that we have these institutions of democracy because committed people chose for them to be here. At every stop there was the idea, look what people did. These are people who are just people. They made this impact. Our country is a team effort.”
“Close to 4,500 people have experienced the program, counting kids and adults,” said program founder Phil Krummel. “That’s something I feel good about.”
Sagadahoc County Sheriff Joel Merry, who helped Krummel develop the program, said: “I always stress that we refer to it as a program, not as a trip, because the work we do to prepare kids for the tour is central to the expectations we have for what they will get out of it.” For example, he says, “we tell them that at the Lincoln Memorial there’s an inscription on the step marking the place where Martin Luther King gave his ‘I have a Dream’ speech. We talk about the speech and its huge impact, and we let them know that they’ll have a chance to look out from that place and imagine a million people standing there listening and cheering.”
Describing the role of adults, Merry said, “We tell parents, teachers and community members who participate in the program that they are team leaders, not chaperones. They’re engaged with the learning process. They work with a specific group of students to build them up and help them get the most out of the experience. We could never do the program without them.”
The fee for a student to participate in the program is $1,000, which covers all expenses, but is out of reach for many families, according to the Y. In 2019, the Y provided over $15,000 in financial aid for the trip raised from various sources, including a grant from the town of Brunswick Nathaniel Davis Fund.
According to Bath Y Chief Executive Officer Sabrina Murphy, “The average scholarship is about half of that, however often a donor will pay the entire trip for a student. Funds come from our annual campaign and United Way, as well as businesses or individuals.”
Tickets for the Freedom Tour Program 20th anniversary event are $25 per person, $40 per couple, $50 per family (up to 4 members). All proceeds go towards providing scholarships for students to participate in the Freedom Tour Program. For tickets or more information, visit bathymca.org or contact Ault at (207) 844-2801 or charlie@bathymca.org.
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