Briefs

SANFORD
Matthew Meals changing venues
The Matthew Meals, which provides free meals to community members by the teens of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Parish in Sanford and Holy Spirit Parish in Kennebunk and Wells, will change venues starting Tuesday.
The meals, served on the second Tuesday of each month, will now be offered from 6 to 7 p.m. at the cafeteria at St. Thomas School at 69 North Ave. in Sanford. All are welcome to eat a pasta dinner, fresh bread, salad, beverages, and a dessert. Previously, the meals were served at St. Ignatius Gym.
To support this project, gift cards to Hannaford are welcome and used to purchase supplies. Any donations should be labeled “Matthew Meal” and dropped off at either St. Martha Church at 30 Portland Road, Kennebunk or St. Mary Church at 236 Eldridge Road, Wells.
Volunteers and guests are also appreciated. For more details, call Carolyn at 985-6252 or email carolyn.houston@portlanddiocese.org.

ALFRED
Town auctioning off used fire truck
The Town of Alfred is auctioning off a 1995 Freightliner FL90 fire truck, with proceeds going to help the local community.
The fire truck has 46,409 miles on it and features a Cummings diesel engine and a 1,000-gallon tank. The truck is perfect for a construction business, landscaping company, or volunteer fire department.
This online auction is open to the public and ends Friday. Maine residents are able to bid in this government auction online at any time at municibid.com/Browse/R3777816/Maine.
All of the proceeds from this auction will go right back to the Town of Alfred’s local community.

SOUTH PARIS
Students donate comfort items for cancer patients
Carlee-Mae Cash, senior at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School, stopped by the Cancer Resource Center of Western Maine just before Christmas to present a box of assorted comfort items for cancer patients there.
The items – hats, scarfs, blankets, puzzle books, games, socks, and ear warmers – were collected by students during a holiday drive organized by the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School National Honor Society Chapter, of which Cash is the current president.
The chapter also presented the cancer center last year with a check for $4,000, the total raised by students as a result of year-long fundraising activities.

PORTLAND & ELLSWORTH
4,000 acres conserved through grants
Support from the Maine Community Foundation’s Maine Land Protection grant program will conserve more than 4,000 acres across the state, including 70-plus acres that will be returned to Wabanaki tribes. Seven nonprofit conservation projects received grants totaling $173,600 to protect land from Washington to Cumberland counties.
Five projects, totaling $153,600, were funded through the grant program and two projects, totaling $20,000, were funded by donors with advised funds at MaineCF.
Grantees include Land in Common, which will purchase 105 acres in Greene, including 70 acres that will return to Wabanaki care. In Portland, Trust for Public Land will purchase 24 acres to create North Deering Park. Friends of Haystack Mountain conserved a 57-acre parcel on Haystack Mountain for public trails and recreation. View all recent grants at mainecf.org/recentgrants.
The Maine Land Protection grant program was launched in 2020 and has awarded more than $1.9 million to 31 projects in its first three years. It focuses specifically on larger land acquisition and conservation easement projects and prioritizes proposals that create or expand access to land and water for underserved people and communities.
The program will accept proposals for 2023 grants beginning Sept. 15. For more information, visit mainecf.org or contact Katie Howard, MaineCF program officer, at khoward@mainecf.org or 207-412-0832.

Grantmaking committee welcomes new members
Abdulkadir Ali of Portland, Lennie Burke of Brunswick, Erin Clark of Westbrook, and Aaron Frederick of Gorham are the newest members of the Maine Community Foundation’s Cumberland County Grantmaking Committee.
MaineCF’s county committees are made up of community members who live or work in the county and serve as local ambassadors for the foundation, sharing their knowledge and providing on-the-ground local leadership for the foundation.
The committee’s volunteer county advisors review grant proposals for MaineCF’s Community Building Grant Program and recommend grant awards from the Cumberland County Fund. Community Building supports a broad range of projects and organizations across the state, including arts, education, environment, economic development, and human services.
Ali is the advocacy director at Youth Maine Justice and artistic director with Maine Inside Out. He also partners with Young People’s Caucus and Opportunity Scholars at the University of Southern Maine.
Burke, formerly in the banking and retail energy industries, serves on the board of MidCoast Redevelopment Association.
Clark is a grant manager at the John T. Gorman Foundation and is a board member of Sexual Assault Response Services of Southern Maine.
Frederick is in business and leadership development and management consulting with Dialogos and Generative Capital.
Other committee members include Alison Harris of Brunswick; Dan Coyne of Scarborough; Mufalo Chitam of South Portland; Martha Dumont of Falmouth; Eleanor Goldberg and Chip Newell of Portland; and Quincy Hentzel and Nancy Spiegel of Cape Elizabeth.
In 2022, the Cumberland County Fund awarded 18 grants totaling $836,993.
To learn more about MaineCF’s county and regional program, visit mainecf.org.