In a recent letter to the Scarborough School Board and Town Council, Project GRACE gave a brief overview of some of the ways we are helping students and the schools.

• Milk Money. Project GRACE recently made a $1,100 gift to Scarborough School Nutrition to cover the costs of milks and nurses' office snacks for the last school year. While all students can have a free breakfast and lunch, extra milks are not included. Instead of embarrassing a child who doesn't have the money for milk, nutrition staff just keep a tally and bill us at year end. It's a gift we are pleased to make each year. 
  
  
• Nutrition Department's "Backpacks" Supplemental Nutrition Program. Last Spring a gift from Saco Biddeford Savings enabled us to add jam/jelly to a surplus of peanut butter, and with help from a Town & Country grant, we did our first school snacks drive just before school started. This fall we made an additional gift of over $500 in staple foods (tuna and tuna helper/rice, salad dressing and condiments, soups, snacks and cocoa packets, etc.) for the 'backpacks' that feed families struggling to put food on the table. Nutrition staff are very caring and put in extra effort to see that kids are well looked after, and with dignity and compassion for all the families. This holiday season we’ll also be donating staples for nutritious meals at home, the ‘fixings’ like stuffing, gravy, squash and seasonal favorites.
  
  
• Immediate Needs for Students and Families.  Cindy Fasulo, LPN is a Project GRACE board member who helps us liaise with the schools. In addition to access to other resources, Cindy has a "stash" of retail and grocery gift cards that school nurses, counselors, and personnel can request to provide immediate assistance to a family that needs food, personal hygiene supplies, or shoes and clothes for their children. Our volunteers also shop for clothes and essentials for kids as needed when school counselors and social workers contact us directly with a special request. Typically Project GRACE invests at least $3,000 annually through the schools, enabling us to extend our reach discretely to families who might not otherwise contact us.
  
  
• Assistance for School Personnel. Sometimes it's not the kids who need our help, but a member of staff  - a teacher, custodian, administrator, etc. - who is going through a challenging time. In those cases we often work through an intermediary, like a school principal, to provide extra assistance and confidentially. It may be a 100 gallons of fuel assistance to keep their home warm (regardless of which town the employee calls home); it may be help with transportation to work; it could be respite from a stressful situation; it could be extra groceries or a dinner out with the family. Our help varies as the situation requires because we value the commitment school personnel make to their students, to their school, to the community.

 

• School Supplies & Backpacks for Students & Schools. Our annual back-to-school campaign to collect sturdy new backpacks and assorted school supplies was enormously successful this year. We helped families who applied directly to us for packs and supplies, were referred through Nutrition or school personnel, etc. We also gave each of the schools a couple of totes of extra supplies for the teachers to use in the classroom or share with students as needed, and dozens of sturdy new backpacks to have on hand for a child who needed one. Supplies and backpacks were donated by many individuals, groups, and businesses (including Infinity Credit Union, Town & Country Federal Credit Union, Abbott, NT&T, Modern Woodmen Fraternal Financial). Community Services, with help from Rebecca MacCallum (aka USOA's "Mrs. Scarborough"), held a series of drives for us. The Scarborough Library accepted donations throughout the campaign, and also hosted our donor drop off and family pick up events at the library just before the start of school. The retail value of the packs and supplies we donated to the schools alone was over $2,200, but the investment from the community in our teachers and students is priceless. 
  
  
• Advanced Math Calculators. Our neighbors are very quick to share, and are very generous about giving to help a child start the school year ready to succeed. One company in particular, Landry/French, deserves extra recognition this year for their generosity: they made a special appeal for the calculators and it's our great pleasure to pass their gifts to us on to the schools. The High School was given 20 TI-84 advanced math calculators, while the Middle School received 20 TI-30s. We provide the calculators so that a student who has lost or forgotten one can borrow one as needed for homework, a test, or class work. We also invited the math teachers to give calculators to students with exceptional math skills who cannot afford to have a calculator of their own (TI-84s cost more than $100 apiece). The total value of the calculators is an investment of about $2,400 in the academic promise of Scarborough students. 
  
• Community Thanksgiving Dinner. This year will mark the seventh annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner hosted by Chef Peter Esposito and his talented kitchen staff and volunteers. It all started with the energetic conversations at the 2016 Food for Thought & Action Forum, one of a series convened by Project GRACE, that sparked an idea for a community Thanksgiving dinner that has since evolved into a favorite annual tradition for the town, guests, volunteers, co-hosts and supporters. From the outset, Scarborough’s Community Thanksgiving Dinner enjoyed the unstinting and generous gifts of “time, talent, and treasure” from Scarborough Schools, Community Services, Public Safety, the Town of Scarborough - and Project GRACE, too. While we will be stepping back from our multi-faceted role as a co-host and sponsor, we are confident Chef Peter and his team will cook up a delicious traditional holiday dinner with a generous ‘side’ of joy. As is our custom, we’ll make a modest gift of thanks to the kitchen staff, who volunteer their time as well as talent at Thanksgiving.
  

Project GRACE director, Steffi Cox, recently spoke before the Town Council to offer Project GRACE's very strong encouragement to the Council to include the Scarborough Public Library's $13 million bond question for its expansion project on the November 2022 ballot.

Project GRACE has for the past twenty years been working collaboratively with numerous partners to serve our town, including the Scarborough Public Library. We are very familiar with their programs, resources, and the library space itself. Library staff are uncomplaining and valiant in their use of a space they have long since outgrown; groups like us find it increasingly difficult to reserve a space at the library for our public meetings and events; and the balance between spaces for active (busy and noisy) and passive (quiet) activities is a challenge even for our creative librarians to achieve.
 
Project GRACE is one of many keen to see the library's expansion plans come to life and who see this as a good investment for the town. Some of the reasons why we support the expansion include:

• our library is where groups like us can convene meetings, hold special events, and engage the community in our mission -- but it can be hard to find a suitable date or availability at all because there aren't enough public meeting spaces to meet our community's need. For the past few years before Covid, Project GRACE had to look outside the library in order to continue to hold our "Food for Thought & Action" convenings at the library because there just wasn't availability in the modestly-sized conference room. Scarborough as a whole has very few public meeting spaces, and the library's expansion plan offers several flexible options that would help the community learn, collaborate, and work together.

 

• our library is quick to help Project GRACE collect school supplies, nonperishable food for the pantry, holiday gifts and more for our neighbors -- they always find a prominent place for our donation boxes -- even it means shifting something else aside for a short time. Behind the scenes, the staff offices are cramped and filled with book carts piled high with program materials, essential supplies, and at times even dozens of donated school backpacks or boxes brimming with holiday presents for kids!

 

• neighbors can access resources they might not have at home or be able to otherwise afford, including free wi-fi, free museum passes, sports and science gear to borrow, etc. (basketballs are in a book cart by the front desk!). During very cold or very hot spells, the library is a warming/cooling center, helping neighbors save on their energy bills and find solace in the company of others. Project GRACE often leaves gift cards or other items like a borrow cell phone at the library so Project GRACE recipients can get something from us quickly and discreetly and safely.
  
  
• our library helps Project GRACE identify and meet needs in the community, too. The librarians often spot when a person is lonely, needs services, has inadequate clothing or shoes, or is homeless or hungry. The library helps us help more neighbors. Some of our neighbors would not have come forward to seek help, if it were not for the encouragement of the librarians who see them regularly at a place where they feel comfortable. However, there are no quiet corners for a private conversation, and the phone for public use is in the entrance lobby where anyone can hear the call.

 

• Project GRACE could do more, if there were more space in the library to meet with our neighbors who need extra help signing up for LiHEAP fuel assistance, meet with our volunteers to discuss their circumstances confidentially, come to a forum to learn about available services. A modest space set aside where a senior could get a snack or cup of coffee or cold drink of water would be a welcome addition.

 

• our librarians have done their homework, and Project GRACE has looked closely at their plans and agrees that the library has worked carefully with the town and stakeholders like Project GRACE. We feel the staff, particularly, director Nancy Crowell, have listened carefully to the needs and wishes of the community, have sought expert advice, and have been thoughtful in their approach to developing plans for expansion - they're work is the culmination of many years of work to position the library to meet the needs of the future as well as the present.

 

• our library welcomes everyone - but it needs more space to do more. When the library was built in 1989, there were 12,000 residents of Scarborough - today there are more than 21,000 and by 2020, we are projected to have upwards of 27,000 residents. The library is undersized for a growing town. Even with the proposed expansion, the new library will be modestly sized compared to similar communities.

 
These are few of our reasons for supporting the library's expansion plans. The library has been serving as our de facto community center, it's a welcoming place, and it's located where it's easy for most people to come together to learn, find connections, and be active and engaged in our community. Councilors, we sincerely hope you will, as we do, offer your unequivocal and enthusiastic support for placing the library's bond on the November 2022 ballot. Let the voters decide.

It's never too late to apply for "Free & Reduced" school meals ... and even though all Maine kids will get free meals this coming school year, it's good to fill out an application to see if you qualify. Brenda at Scarborough School Nutrition can answer any questions ([email protected] or 730-4700).

Project GRACE executive director, Steffi Cox, was recently presented with a "Hometown Hero" award from  Scarborough's Modern Woodmen Fraternal Financial. Accepting the award from Kelli & Scott McDonald, Steffi said "It's an honor to be recognized for building community, and to be able to take this opportunity to thank the many volunteers and supporters who make up Project GRACE, who are the heart of all we do." The award comes with a donation that will be used to provide humanitarian relief here at home.

The gift from Modern Woodmen paid for several gallons of water that accompanied protein-rich snacks donated by Project GRACE to the Scarborough Police Department community outreach officers so that people living in our community who not have any shelter can stay hydrated and have an energy boost as temperatures climb. 

Slip and slide. It's a hoot on a hot summer's day. It’s also what happens to a child’s social and academic skills when school doors close for the summer. Ask any teacher, they’ll tell you kids lose as much as two months of reading and math skills in the weeks between the last and first days of school. Research shows most kids lose a bit over the summer, but low-income kids lose the most because they lack engaging summer activities. Many of those same kids also miss out on healthy meals.

On the first day of Spring, we are feeling cautiously hopeful that we have enough in our reserves, thanks to the generosity of our friends and neighbors who turned out to support our 10th annual fuel rally in February ... but we're watchful of the prices, too ... the more they climb, the harder it is for our neighbors to afford the fuel needed to get through a cold Maine spring...and harder for us to stretch our resources, too. For the moment, we're in good shape, ready to answer the calls from our Scarborough neighbors.

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When temperatures plunge and prices are on the rise as they are now, more than a few of our neighbors need extra help to keep their homes warm. This is the 10th year that Eddie challenged Scarborough to raise money for fuel assistance at the Rally to Keep Our Neighbors Warm. By noon last Saturday, together we had raised more than $26,000 dollars for fuel assistance! At today’s prices, that covers about sixty ‘helps’ of 100 gallons of oil, k1, propane, or firewood. Thanks to the Rally, that’s nearly 8,000 gallons of fuel to keep furnaces going. This amazing community Rally is only possible because of the teamwork and enthusiastic support from the Town of Scarborough, Scarborough Police and Fire, Community Services and Public Works, SEDCO and the Chamber of Commerce, Town Council, Scarborough Public Library and the groups that turn out to lend a hand. To everyone who rallied with us and gave to the fuel fund, the Town and Project GRACE extend their warmest and most heartfelt thanks. Thanks to a very caring and generous community, we can keep our promise that we won’t leave our neighbors in the cold. 

Mainers are really good at resilience. We come together as a community when there's a challenge, and we're quick to pitch in to clear away the snow, share a warm meal, and check in with our senior neighbors living on their own. We've got this. 

Is your family ready for emergencies? Find out at the Scarborough Fire Department's free program on Februrary 10th. Learn about self-sufficiency during an emergency; assembling an emergency preparedness kit; creating a communication plan; strategies to protect household members, valuables, and important documents; and community resources. >>Register with Scarborough Adult Ed

>>> More NEWS YOU CAN USE (Fuel Assistance, Free Covid Tests, & More)

For nearly 20 years, Project GRACE has coordinated a holiday giving program. This year, members of the Scarborough community donated more than a thousand presents (and warm socks, hats, mittens, and more) to the organization. Volunteers collected the gifts from a dozen giving trees around town including ones at the Big20 Bowling Center, Inn by the Sea, St. Maximilian Kolbe Church, Scarborough Public Library, and many families brought special presents directly to us. More volunteers sorted the gifts, wrapped and tagged them, so that the Scarborough Police Department could take them door-to-door right  before Christmas to more than 200 children. It was an amazing effort of joy, good will, and cheer at the holidays, and for everyone who helped, we are grateful.We only wish you could have seen the smiles on the faces of the kids!

Thanksgiving is all about sharing our bounty with family, friends, and neighbors. We enjoy trying new recipes for stuffing, sparring lightly over whether it is pumpkin or apple pie that’s the perfect slice of heaven, and deciding who will bring the favorite must-have sides to complement the turkey, the star of the show. Sharing with others is a meaningful and celebrated custom that draws us closer together during the holidays, and was the core value which led to the formation of long-standing local food drives, generous holiday donations, and six years ago, the Scarborough Community Thanksgiving Dinner. 
 
Among Scarborough’s longstanding holiday traditions are the annual food drives and special gifts to the Scarborough Food Pantry. For the past 10 years or so, Scarborough Kiwanis Club has been donating about 100 turkeys to the Scarborough Food Pantry and School Nutrition’s “Backpack” supplemental food program at Wentworth School. Kiwanis leader, Ava Adams, says the Scarborough Kiwanis Club “always looks forward to providing turkeys to families in our community for Thanksgiving. We hope everyone has a joyful holiday.”  

Local businesses and organizations get involved, too. Project GRACE organizes an annual “Fixings” food drive for the Scarborough Food Pantry. This month State Manufactured Homes' Hillcrest Retirement Community sent a bus around their neighborhood collecting donations; Infinity Credit Union stuffed an SUV to the brim with fixings, and neighbors from all over town brought boxes, bags, and bundles of good cheer and food for their neighbors. Many paused to visit, smiling and glad to be a part of something bigger, a part of a generous and compassionate community.  

Throughout the holiday season we savor the time we have with those we love, and we think about others. We give, a little or a lot, whatever we can of our time, so that others do not want, so that our community is made whole through caring. This bright spirit still inspires the hosts of the annual Scarborough Community Thanksgiving Dinner. Usually served as a buffet at Wentworth School, but now shifted to curbside pickup, the many businesses, organizations, and friends in Scarborough lend a helping hand. At the heart of it all are the neighbors who come for dinner or pick up a meal for a friend. “Scarborough is a wonderful community with great fabric from the caring, giving, loving folks who volunteer and help others,” says Eddie Woodin, who was among the first to champion the idea of a community dinner.  

This year 1,000 roast turkey dinners with all the traditional fixings (and pie!) will be prepared by Chef Peter Esposito and the School Nutrition team. It is an all-hands-on-deck effort, with volunteers from the Town Community Services, Public Works, Public Safety, and the community are pitching in. “I am so proud of my town and the volunteers who contribute time and talent to this annual event,” says Town Councilor Jean-Marie Caterina. “So many of my constituents would have no Thanksgiving without their efforts. Thank you. Thank you.” 

Scarborough Public Safety personnel are among the quiet heroes who don chef’s aprons and help in the kitchen, spend hours keeping cars safely moving during curbside pick-up, and go door-to-door bringing a cheery greeting and meal to neighbors. “Thanksgiving is just another way we serve the community,” say Det. Eric Greenleaf and Sgt. Steve Thibodeau. “It brings us great pleasure to assist those who benefit from a home-cooked and heartfelt holiday meal.”  

Linda Halleran, Community Engagement Manager at Town & Country Federal Credit Union, reflecting on their annual gift, says, “Scarborough’s annual Thanksgiving Dinner has grown into a wonderful tradition bringing together local businesses, municipal government, non-profit groups and neighbors to serve the community. In the spirit of our ‘Local Helping Local’ initiative, Town & Country Federal Credit Union is pleased to be a sponsor of this event.” 

BlueWave Solar is a new sponsor­­ who stepped forward this year to match the leadership gifts offered by Woodin & Co. and Ameriprise of Scarborough. “One of our core values is ‘we do it together,’ and believe in showing up as a member of the communities we live in, work in, and support,” says Alan Robertson, Managing Director of Solar Development at BlueWave. “We are proud to work with Project GRACE and all the partners to ensure all members of the Scarborough community are able to celebrate Thanksgiving with a holiday meal.”

With the warmest of wishes to all our neighbors, with the greatest of gratitude for the love and caring that shines so brightly this time of year, we wish one and all a very Happy Thanksgiving.  

Saco Biddeford Savings Institution, Scarborough Kiwanis Club, La-Z-Boy of Scarborough, South Portland Police Patrolman's Association, Prescott Jamieson Murphy Law Group, Inc., Mitchell Family, Carpenter Family, MedCor Professionals, Scarborough Muffler, Scarborough Hannaford, Nancy Erb Coaching, Glidden Roofing, Ron Forest Fence, Friends & Family of Edward Needham, Friends & Family of Lindsay Manseau, Higgins Beach Association, Prouts Neck Association,Town of Scarborough, and many generous friends and families.