Local charities rely on community support
The ongoing struggle of many in our communities to meet their basic needs has been made worse by the pandemic. We want to lift up the opportunity to make a difference, including by having a delicious meal! We are fortunate to have nonprofits that reach out to those left behind by our systems. Can you imagine facing a medical crisis and not having health insurance, or being one of the 13.6 % of Maine households who sometimes don’t have enough to eat?
Oasis Free Clinic and Midcoast Hunger Prevention Programs (MCHPP) help, with health care for those uninsured, and with food. In our area people are living in their cars, and tents, and find a place of welcome and warmth at the Gathering Place, or a bed at the Tedford Shelter. Stressed families get help from Habitat for Humanity to own a home, and teens find a safe space and food at People Plus’s Teen Center. For years, St Charles Borromeo Church of All Saints Parish has hosted fish suppers on the six Fridays of lent as fundraisers for local nonprofits, and this year we are happy to be able to continue this tradition to benefit these six organizations.
They all rely on community support, and one way you can offer this support is to come to get a takeout meal! Every Friday from Feb. 19 through March 26, from 5-6 p.m., you can drive up to a table in front of the church building at 132 McKeen St., and pick up a pint of homemade fish chowder, crackers and a dessert for $10 (exact cash or check made out to All Saints; first come first served). We will miss the camaraderie of our in-person meals, but you can still support our community and feel connected to others as you take this step to help us make a donation to each of these organizations. If you’re not able to do this, these organizations all welcome volunteers, and also need your caring and support for their missions. May we remember that we are all in this together and that we will get through these hard times by reaching out our hands and hearts to one another.
Mary O’Brien,
For the Social Justice and Peace Commission,
St. Charles Borromeo Church, All Saints Parish, Brunswick
Global weirding
A winter storm remarkable for its reach, intensity, and cold temperatures barreled across the U.S. threatening 150 million people from Texas to Maine. Gulf Coast beaches were covered in snow. Temperatures plunged into the single digits as far south as San Antonio, Texas. Americans unaccustomed to driving in snow and ice were blanketed. The result: power outages, multi-vehicle pileups, and deaths. Emergencies were declared in several states.
The storm was the major news story, but not many explained why this record-breaking storm is not a surprise. Climate scientists predict what Katharine Hayhoe calls global weirding (aka climate change, global warming).
As the average temperatures at the poles get warmer, the jet stream, which usually holds back the frigid polar vortex, weakens and lets the cold air escape further south than it used to go.
Connect the dots: global warming is impacting Americans today.
Luckily we can still do something to stop global warming from getting worse: lower greenhouse gas emissions.
The most effective, cheapest and quickest first step is pricing carbon. Make consumers pay for the carbon pollution caused by burning fossil fuels.
The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act would place a steadily increasing fee on fossil fuels and return all the revenue to American households on an equal basis as a monthly dividend. Write or call your members of Congress and ask them to support a carbon fee and dividend policy so that we can stop global weirding from getting worse.
Dodie Jones,
Brunswick
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
