CUMBERLAND COUNTY

Credit union volunteers mark Indigenous People Day

Evergreen Credit Union recognized Indigenous Peoples Day Oct. 10 by volunteering in three Cumberland County communities.

Taking shovels and saws in hand, credit union employees helped clear trails at Blue Point Preserve, part of the Scarborough Land Trust, and at Mill Brook Preserve, managed by the Presumpscot Regional Land Trust in Windham. A third group dedicated time and energy to the South Portland Food Cupboard.

PORTLAND

Apply now for a Water Bottle Filling Fountain grant

Portland Water District is accepting applications for 2023 Water Bottle Filling Fountain Grants.

The grant program offers free water bottle filling fountains to local entities. Over the past eight years, PWD has awarded $43,500 to support the installation of approximately 32 Water Bottle Filling Fountains. The board increased the annual program funding limit this year to $10,000.

Water bottle filling fountains provide touch free, sanitary access to Greater Portland’s tap water. Applications are due Oct. 31. Complete criteria, eligibility requirements, and the application can be found at pwd.org/water-bottle-filling-station-grants. Organizations must be served by Portland Water District. Preference will be given to those organizations that provide the largest exposure and benefit for public use.

SOUTH PORTLAND

Four recognized as Gold Award Girl Scouts

Girl Scouts of Maine (GSME) recently celebrated International Day of the Girl by recognizing four local members as Gold Award Girl Scouts.

Charlena LaVallee of Gray, Mikaela Spooner of New Sweden, Ayla Clark of Biddeford, and Kimberley Spears of Sidney, were the latest Girl Scouts to be honored with the organization’s highest achievement. They earned the distinction for identifing the root causes of pressing issues in their communities, creating sustainable solutions for them, and taking action to resolve them.

LaVallee created her Gold Award project, “Come Play N Learn,” after volunteering at the Fiddlehead School in Gray. She observed that the school valued both being outside and learning through play, taking this into consideration she created a playground with four sections: water play, arts and crafts, dramatic play, and an area for sports. The playground also includes typical playground elements like swings and a climbing dome.

Spooner created her Gold Award project, “Bringing A Historical Museum into the 21st Century,” to help preserve the history of the Swedish Colony. She created an audio tour of the Lindsten Stuga, which is easily accessible to the public and can be shared with other historical societies and the Maine State Library.

Spears created a brochure, pledge card, video, and online presentation for her Gold Award project, “Teen Distracted Driving Awareness.” The materials she created contain different information about the types of distracted driving, ways to avoid them, and statistics about distracted driving. Her presentations reached over 200 teens, and many more through indirect contact.

Clark’s Gold Award project, Love Your Attire (L.Y.A), aimed to address the lack of access to clothing for youth in Biddeford schools. She created a boutique in the Biddeford Middle School that is stocked with various types of clothing and shoes, all of which were donations or items that were purchased by request. The goal of the project was to get 50 items taken from the boutique; in the end, more than 150 items of clothing were taken.

To learn more, visit girlscoutsofmaine.org/girlstories.

WESTBROOK

Four schools win grants to get kids outside and active

WinterKids is granting $25,000 to four organizations to help get kids outside and active more often. The winning schools were determined by community vote, with Noble Middle School of Berwick named the the $10,000 winner and Bruce M. Whittier Middle School of Poland, Auburn Middle School, and Mt. Abram Regional High School of Strong winning $5,000 each.

Three organizations also won $500 each and honorable mention awards for receiving top votes in their categories of schools, recreation departments, and community nonprofits. They include Memorial Middle School in South Portland, Bangor Parks & Rec Department, and Alfond Youth & Community Center in Waterville.

This year’s winners plan to use funds for snowshoes, cross-country skis, trail system development, winter camping gear, a youth ski league, and winter boots and gear.

PORTLAND

Diocese seeks artwork for Christmas card contest

The Diocese of Portland welcomes children in faith formation classes and Catholic schools who are affiliated with Maine parishes to submit their artwork for a chance to be selected as part of its annual Christmas Card Art Contest.

This year’s entries must reflect one of the following Bible passages from Luke 2, verses 7, 10, 11, 12 or 14. Winners will be selected from four age divisions: Kindergarten through grade 2; grades 3-5; grades 6-8; and grades 9-12. The artwork must created by the child and not mechanically or electronically generated.

Deadline for submissions is 4:30 p.m. Oct. 28. Winners will be notified by Nov. 30.

The winning artwork will be used on the cover of the diocesan Christmas cards this winter, with the winners’ names printed on the back of the cards. Winners and their families also will be invited to a reception with Bishop Deeley.

To view last year’s winning entries, visit portlanddiocese.org/content/diocese-portland-names-christmas-card-contest-winners-statewide-competition-0.

For complete contest rules and/or to register, visit portlanddiocese.org/sites/default/files/files/ChristmasCardContest2022.pdf or call 773-6471.

OLD ORCHARD BEACH

Rotary club receives grant to address human trafficking

Rotary Club of Saco Bay Sunset at Old Orchard Beach has received a Rotary District 7780 grant to inform and educate the public about human trafficking in Maine, help survivors meet their basic needs, and know that they are cared for.

The group is using the grant funding to provide personal care items for survivors of human trafficking and their children. This project brought together 20 people from four communities, who met recently at The Ballpark to fill 200 “comfort bags” with personal health items, a cozy blanket, and a motivational note. Children’s bags contained toys, personal items, and books.

Rotary Club of Saco Bay Sunset is coordinating with CourageLIVES, a branch of St. Andre Home, to help distribute the bags to survivors and their family members. The comfort bags, so far, have been distributed to the residents at the CourageLIVES home, survivors across the state, and to four recovery homes.

To learn more, visit couragelivesme.org or sacobaysunsetrotary.org.

LEWISTON

Region 10 instructor named career, tech education teacher of the year

Jean Palmer, Region 10 Technical High School’s creative digital media instructor, was recognized as the Maine Administrators of Career and Technical Education ‘s 2022 career and technical education teacher of the year during its statewide conference at Lewiston Regional Technical Center.

Palmer has taught creative digital media at Region 10 in Brunswick for the past four years.

Palmer was nominated for the recognition by Region 10 former superintendent/director Paul Perzanoski.

Kenny noted that, since coming to Region 10, Palmer turned a half-time program that struggled to attract students into one of the most sought-after and highly enrolled programs available.

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