Happy Wednesday!
New this week:
The G.E.A.R. Parent Network invites you to join their kickoff event for Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week, May 7-13, on Monday, May 8th, 10 am — 12 pm outside in the side parking lot at Crisis and Counseling Centers, 10 Caldwell Road, Augusta. Please wear green or a green ribbon as it brings awareness and acceptance about the importance of children’s mental health and to show that positive mental health is essential to a child’s healthy development throughout their lifespan. Children’s Services Providers and families please join us for coffee and refreshments, parents will also share their child’s/youth success stories, you can receive green ribbons and children’s mental health awareness/acceptance informational resource materials. (no rain date held). We also are distributing mental health educational information along with green ribbons, bracelets, stickers and lanyards to the parents and children’s mental health providers and educators statewide who attend our kickoff event. The information and children’s mental health awareness materials will be displayed and distributed to youth and families to raise awareness, help to promote acceptance and to advocate for positive children’s mental health practices that support and strengthen family resiliency. We would love to see you however if you cannot come and would like to obtain educational materials and resources – they are available to download click on the green ribbon!
Save the date of June 28th for the 28th Maine Child Welfare Education Annual Conference, Moving Beyond ACEs: Trauma and Resiliency in a Post-Pandemic World, featuring keynotes speaker, Allegra Hirsh-Wright, LCSW. The conference will be held at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. Registration details will be included in the full conference brochure available on our Facebook page by May 15th. Download a flyer to share and contact us at mainecwe@gmail.com with any additional questions.
Save the date of Thursday, August 17th, for the Maine Seacoast Mission Sunbeam Award Gala, 5 pm cocktails, 6 pm program, 7 pm dinner at the Bar Harbor Club. Recognizing those who embody the ideals of community: Sharon Daley, RN and Health Partners. Learn more here.
Eastern Area Agency on Aging is offering Medicare 101 presentations in Ellsworth at Friends in Action on the 2nd Thursday of each month starting May 11th at 9:30 am with 3 Medicare Counseling sessions to follow. We are encouraging people who live in Hancock/Washington County to sign up for the Ellsworth location instead of coming to Brewer. People are encouraged to call EAAA at 207-941-2865 to register.
University of Maine Cooperative Extension is hosting an open house and annual meeting from 10 am to 2 pm Saturday, May 20, at the Washington County office, 116 O’Brien Avenue on the campus of the University of Maine Machias. Rain location is Kilburn Commons cafeteria. This free, public event will include a cookout and showcase many programs and services offered by Extension including wild blueberries, Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP), horticulture, 4-H Camp and Learning Center at Greenland Point, tick testing and identification, and volunteer opportunities. Attendees can tour the new office space in the O’Brien House and pick up free seeds, tick spoons and soil tests while supplies last. Youth will enjoy a goat petting zoo and a 4-H science activity. The event also includes the annual meeting of the Washington County Extension Association where the Norman W. Duzen Community Service Award will be presented to an outstanding volunteer. For more information and to RSVP for the cookout, visit the Washington Extension Annual Meeting and Open House webpage by May 12. Responses are encouraged, but not required. To request a reasonable accommodation, contact Tara Wood at 207-255-3345 or tara.a.wood@maine.edu.
Safe Harbor Recovery Home for Women and Children (we also support women without children) has open beds! We are located in Machias and have a rich recovery community. Please print, distribute or forward this flyer for Safe Harbor with any contacts that may be interested in a recovery house for women. Feel free to reach out to Katie Sell with any questions at 263-5096.
Maine Equal Justice invites you to submit up to 2 photos to help us tell legislators your stories about poverty in Maine. Win $250! Have your photo featured in ”Beyond Survival,” a photo exhibit at the Maine State House to bring awareness about poverty and its effects on children and families in Maine. Click here for photo contest guidelines. Submit your photo by May 1st.
Don’t miss Wayfinder Schools’ Finding Our Way announcement in the Updates Section of this newsletter below. Washington County Passages teacher, Wendy Newell Dyer, is one of the featured speakers at this event!