Just like a good holiday meal, it takes a whole lot of helping hands to make our Thanksgiving project come together. Here a few for whom we are grateful:

• Festive placemats decorated by the kindergarten students at Blue Point school were included in all the food baskets.
• Scarborough Terrace made up treat bags for seniors living on their own.
• St. Max church invited us to use their hall, and the Southern Maine Warriors basketball team helped with the set up. The team also made cheery greeting cards for the treat bags.
• Scarborough's ACE Hardware helped us stretch a generous private gift even further so we could offer home energy-saving LED lightbulbs, plastic film window kits, and other supplies and thrifty tips to save on electricity and heating costs.
• Biddeford Savings and Stantec hosted food drives to collect nonperishables for the Scarborough Food Pantry which in turn shared "Hannaford Helps" food boxes, enough for every family.
  
• The Scarborough Rotary Club's youth group (Interact Club) sold bracelets to raise funds for Thanksgiving baskets.
  
• Dozens of families, businesses, churches and groups, including Blue Point Congregational, Women of the Moose Lodge, Maine Medical Partners, Merry Maids, Girl Scouts of Maine, and many others donated cash or grocery gift cards to sponsor a family's meal or gave nourishing Thanksgiving dinner baskets -- all of them made up with care.
• The Scarborough Library Knitting Group brought gorgeous hand-knit hats, scarves, and mittens - and just in time for cold weather.
• The Volunteers in Police Service (VIPS) greeted the families and helped us get those heavy food baskets out the door and into waiting cars. 

Project GRACE is neighbors helping neighbors. By coming together, we helped 155 kids and adults (55 families and seniors) have a more bountiful Thanksgiving. Thank you, one and all! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Kind-hearted seniors, some in their 90s, are taking over the kitchen at Scarborough Terrace Assisted Living to bake homemade treats to benefit Project G.R.A.C.E. Proceeds of the bake sale help purchase children’s clothing, hats, gloves, boots and jackets that Project G.R.A.C.E. distributes to local families.  “It touches my heart to see how much our residents enjoy helping the community,” said Elizabeth Simonds, marketing manager of Scarborough Terrace Assisted Living.  “We find it very rewarding, and we feel it is extremely important to do our part to assist families in need.”

Please join Project GRACE, the Scarborough Public Library, and United Way of Greater Portland at a Community Conversation on December 9th (6:00-8:00 p.m. at the Scarborough Public Library, 48 Gorham Road).. 

The United Way of Greater Portland is hoping to spark conversations in communities in the Greater Portland area to help them establish measurable 10-year community-wide goals in education, financial stability, and health.

All are welcome to identify and explore the critical community needs and issues that affect us all. You don’t need to be an expert to participate, just someone who cares about your community. By sharing your experiences, concerns, and vision for our community, you will help guide positive change for the future.
 
The Scarborough Community Conversation is being hosted by the Scarborough Library and is cosponsored by the United Way and Project G.R.A.C.E. We hope to see you there!

Your RSVP to Jim Elkins (jelkins @ gwi.net or 885-0700) is appreciated.

22 teams competed for the bragging rights for winning one of four prizes for the trivia bee champion, best costumes, best team name and most enthusiastic supporters. With a lot of great teams playing to win, and many deserving of honorable mention, the teams taking home other top honors were:

   Best Team Name--Our Boss Told Us to Bee Here 
   Operation Hope’s Jaimie Higgins, Heidi Knight, and Glenn Tucker

   Best Costumes--Smokey Bees 
   Fire Department’s Jim Butler, Julie Sanford, and Chief Mike Thurlow

   Most Enthusiastic Supporters--Pied Pipers 
   Piper Shores’ Joe Kunkel, Betty Perry, and Evelyn Marcus

   8th Annual Trivia Bee Champions---The Trivials 
   Scarborough Ed Techs: Maureen Kirsch, Julia Iuretig, and Rebecca Zafonte

Congratulations!