Global school play day at RSU #18

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by Mandi Favreau

Global School Play Day was celebrated all over RSU #18 this year! Atwood Elementary School, Williams Elementary School, and CPS joined in on February 5, while Belgrade Community School and James H. Bean Elementary School scheduled their play days for the Monday and Tuesday of the following week.

Regardless of the timing, all of our elementary students got to experience a full day where they could let their imaginations and creativity run wild with their friends. Children played with dolls, play dough, puppets, Legos, and much, much more. Several students got to discover all the amazing things you can build out of cardboard boxes, others discovered a new found love for karaoke or for science exploration games.

Global School Play Day was developed in 2015 by a small group of educators who were concerned about the lack of unstructured playtime their students got to experience. Studies show that unstructured play boosts cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development while lack of play increases stress and can lead to many physical and mental health issues.

The day of play was definitely a huge hit with the students. The smiles on their faces say it all and are a terrific reminder of how important it is to simply give our children time to play.

China Region Lakes Alliance delays summer employment process

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photo by Eric Austin

With all the uncertainty surrounding the novel coronavirus pandemic, the China Region Lakes Alliance (CRLA) announces a delay in advertising for summer employment opportunities.

The lake stewardship organization traditionally hires seasonal members of its Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) and Courtesy Boat Inspector (CBI) team. These positions, which typically start in June, involve working with the public and in close proximity to other team members. YCC members work on projects with private landowners to protect and improve lake water quality at China Lake, Three Mile Pond and Webber Pond. CBI team members interface with hundreds of lake users coming and going from area boat launches.

“We know a lot of kids in our community have come to count on us for summer employment, but we don’t want to let people apply for a job that we don’t know they will be able to hold come summer,” says Scott Pierz, CRLA president. “We hope to make a decision in mid- to late May on what YCC and CBI will look like this year.”

There are many unknowns regarding the summer season, and the health and wellness of community members are the CRLA’s top concern. The CRLA, together with its program partners, will use guidance from the state to determine how to best operate these critical lake protection programs. When decisions are made, the CRLA will provide details via The Town Line and the town of China website.

Local church adapts with lakeside, car side Easter service

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Members of China Baptist Church attended Easter Sunrise Service in their cars at the head of the lake. (photo by Sharon Peabody)

by Linda Morell & Jeanne Marquis

It was a beautiful brisk morning overlooking China Lake. The lake was calm reflecting the homes along its shores as the cars filled the parking lot at the head of the lake. To an outside observer, it might have looked like a typical Sunday, instead it was a local church creatively adapting to social distancing due to the pandemic.

The Easter Sunrise Service at China Baptist Church began at 5:50 a.m. as it had for many previous decades, but this year the congregation stayed in their vehicles and listened through the internet. The glorious sun rising over the lake provided the visual inspiration.

The service began with music recorded by the music director and pianist, Donna Gorton followed by prayer and a message from Pastor David Gorton. Dennis Heath closed the service with an Easter message to those gathered.

At the close of the service, cars drove by the church to receive a raspberry roll baked by Sharon and Dale Peabody. The post service coffee hour was postponed until 10 AM so church members could safely return home and reconnect over Zoom.

Linda Morrell commented, “In these crazy times, it was good to see, if only from a distance. our many friends from our China Baptist Church family.”

Brad Bickford led the technical team that made the service possible. Dwayne Bickford, Brad’s father explained, “Brad and the church have been working on the ability to record and stream the services for some time. The basics were already in place. We only lacked the internet bandwidth which we quickly corrected by switching service providers.”

Dwayne Bickford scheduled the online meetings and communicated detailed instructions through multiple platforms to reach all generations of the congregation.

Dwayne said, “I’ve felt called to find ways to bring us together in this time of physical distancing. We are thankful for technology that didn’t exist a few short years ago. Zoom, Facebook and Google Hangouts have been instrumental in making it happen. The next challenge was explaining the usage to people of all generations and abilities. It wasn’t as bad as it might have been because most [of our congregation] were very motivated to figure it out. People are driven to get back to the normal worship they are accustomed to, especially in these times.”

Alene Smiley, longtime church member, said, “Easter Sunrise Service at China Baptist Church is always special as the setting at the head of the lake is a reminder of God’s power and goodness. This Sunday I did not expect to experience the same feelings that Easter Sunrise Service usually brings but many friends joined together was extremely meaningful. Just another reminder that no matter the circumstances, God is always with you if you look for Him.”

Charlie Matthews honored for 55 years in scouting

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Charlie Matthews

The Kennebec Valley District of Scouting honors Charlie Matthews, of Fairfield, for celebrating 55 years in the Scouting program. Charlie would have received a 55-year veteran service pin at the annual Scout Leader Recognition dinner this month but it was put on hold in response to Covid-19.

“Charlie Mathews has been a steadfast stalwart Scouter,” said Kennebec Valley District Chairman Butch Dawbin. “Whenever there was a need, Charlie stepped up and performed very well. Troop #460 always achieved high standards when they were at district events under Charlie. It was his leadership and turning over that leadership to his Scouts that made this happen. “Charlie was a youth member of Troop #470, in Fairfield, from 1953 to 1955, and then from 1967 through 2019 he served as Scoutmaster of Fairfield Troop #460.

“I have enjoyed working with young people and see them go from a new Scout who wasn’t sure of himself to become a leader with confidence in himself,” Charlie said. Matthews led the Scouts to annual visits to Camp Bomazeen or Camp Hinds and some very challenging experiences as well. “I think that some of the most favorite experiences were the camping trips. I especially enjoyed hiking 50 miles on the Appalachian Trail. I enjoyed seeing a Scout taking care of himself for six days. He carried everything he needed for the trip. Many enjoyed it and did the hikes for several years. I had one Scout tell his father that he “did it, done it and never do it again.” His family moved to Kentucky. They wrote to me when he made Eagle.”

Lyn Rowden, who is a neighbor of Matthews, has two examples of Charlie’s great work with youth. “Our two sons joined as Tigers and became Eagles under Charlie’s tutelage. They had a lot of fun at camp, on Appalachian Trail hikes and all the Scout activities. As adults in their 30s they both truly respect Charlie to this day,” Rowden said. “Countless boys have benefited from his dedication to the scouting program. It is Charlie’s knowledge and his easy-going personality that has attracted our family to Boy Scouts.”

Bruce Rueger, who has been in Scouting in Waterville for more than 40 years, admires the example Charlie Matthews presents. “Charlie Matthew is the epitome of adult scouting. He always has time to share and has an incredible amount of knowledge. Whenever Scouting is in action he can be found there in the background providing guidance and support to the Scouts who are in front providing the leadership.”

One of Charlie’s Eagle Scouts, Nathanael Batson, was quick to praise his former Scoutmaster. “He never fails to put the Scouts before himself, which shows his kind heart,” Batson said. “Charlie is like a Scouting encyclopedia who is always willing to teach others as well as assist in the trail to Eagle.” Batson earned his Eagle rank in 2015 with Matthews as his Scoutmaster.

Along with his service as Scoutmaster, Charlie has served on the Catholic Committee for Scouting, the Kennebec Valley District Scouting Committee, the Nominating Committee and various special event committees over the years. “Through the Boy Scouts and Catholic Committee on Scouting, I have met people from all parts of Maine and New England,” Charlie said. “I found them very dedicated to the program and nice people.” In 2015, Charlie was the Scoutmaster of Nathanael Batson who received his Eagle Scout rank that year. Nathanael, who is blind, overcame many obstacles to achieve his goal with the support of Charlie.

Charlie said, “The sad part of serving 55 years is that a lot of the old Scouters are gone and that many of my Scouts have passed on also. I never set out to be a lifelong Scouter. I enjoy the Scouting program and I just registered every year without giving any thought to not signing up again. Now I tell people that I am too old to quit. There are many good people involved and many young people who can benefit from the program.”

The award will be presented to Charlie at an appropriate ceremony after the current Covid-19 challenge has passed. He remains an active Scouting volunteer.

Dealing with difficult times

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Special letter: Max Poulin, 8, of Waterville, made this special letter during the last week of March, honoring the hospital workers at MaineGeneral Medical Center, Thayer Unit, in Waterville. (photo courtesy of Mark Huard)

Directing traffic: Ryan Poulin, chief executive officer at New Dimensions Federal Credit Union, on Grove St., in Waterville, stands in the rain while directing customers at the drive-thru. The credit union lobby is closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. (photo courtesy of Tammy Poissonnier, MBA Communications)

Area churches prepare for virtual services on Good Friday and Easter Sunday

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Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Waterville (photo: Google streetview)

Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday, April 5, and continues through Easter Sunday, April 12. Below, you will find a list of livestreamed Masses and liturgies at local parishes during Holy Week. All of the information is also listed at www.portlanddiocese.org/HolyWeekLiveStreaming (this webpage will be updated frequently as additional parishes submit schedules and when changes are made to schedules).

Corpus Christi Parish, Waterville

www.facebook.com/CorpusChristiMaine

Palm Sunday – 9 a.m.

Holy Thursday – 6 p.m.

Good Friday – 6 p.m.

Easter Sunday – 9 a.m.

St. Michael Parish, Augusta

Website: www.stmichaelmaine.org/our-virtual-parish

Facebook: www.facebook.com/StMichaelMaine.

YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCR6PMvJoqkRRBztsSqKRFpA

Palm Sunday – A taped Mass will be available on the parish website (under virtual parish), on the parish Facebook page, and on the parish YouTube channel by 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 4.

Holy Thursday – A taped Mass of the Lord’s Supper will be available on the parish website (under virtual parish), on the parish Facebook page, and on the parish YouTube channel by 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 9.

Good Friday – A taped Good Friday liturgy will be available on the parish website (under virtual parish), on the parish Facebook page, and on the parish YouTube channel by 6 p.m. on Friday, April 10. A taped Stations of the Cross is currently available on the YouTube channel and will soon be available on both the website and Facebook pages.

Holy Saturday – The Easter Vigil Mass will be live-streamed at 8 p.m. on the parish Facebook page and website.

Easter Sunday — A taped Easter Sunday Mass will be available on the parish website (under virtual parish), on the parish Facebook page, and on the parish YouTube channel by 8 a.m. on Sunday, April 12.

Winslow Congregational Church to offer online Holy Week services

Live-stream online church services from Winslow Congregational Church, led by Rev. Kim Shrader, will be available during Holy Week on YouTube. Services and starting times will be: Maundy Thursday, 7 p.m. / Good Friday, 2 p.m. / Easter Sunday sunrise reflection, 5:50 a.m; Easter worship 10:30 a.m. Live streaming is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSqXn3KhHXs&feature=youtu.be

For more information, please call (207) 872-2544.

Palermo Christian Church streaming services

The Palermo Christian Church is currently streaming Sunday morning services at 9 a.m. on YouTube and Facebook. The links can be found on their website, www.palermochristianchurch.org. They will do this for Easter Sunday as well, and all other services have been canceled until further notice.

Ezhaya scholarship deadline announced by Chamber

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photo: Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce

Joe Ezhaya was a community leader who distinguished himself with his warmth, enthusiasm, generosity and particularly, his friendships. Successful candidates for this scholarship should share Joe’s interest in citizenship, community service and exemplify his spirit and vitality.

Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce is encouraging all eligible students to apply for its Joseph B. Ezhaya Scholarship. This $750.00 scholarship is awarded annually for all four years to a recipient upon successful completion of his/her first semester of college with a 2.0 GPA or better. Criteria for application are:

Must demonstrate an invested interest in citizenship and community service;

Must be attending a Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce area high school: Lawrence, Winslow, Mt. View, Waterville, Messalonskee, MCI, Erskine, Calvary Temple, Maine Arts Academy or Good Will-Hinckley;

Must maintain an academic average of a “C” or better in high school;

Must complete a required essay on citizenship;

Must show evidence of community service and involvement;

Must be enrolled in an accredited New England College or University

Please visit www.midmainechamber.com/cms/joseph-b-ezhaya-memorial-scholarship for more information or call the Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce at 207-873-3315.

All applications must be received before April 17, by 5 p.m.

Someday we’ll look back…

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by Melissa Martin

The future will find us looking back on the pandemic of 2020. Articles in newspapers will be archived. Children will grow up with school cancelation tales. Each individual will have a similar, yet a distinctive story about the coronavirus. The days of COVID-19 will be transcribed in history books.

I grew up inside of books. Escaping between the front and the back covers brought solace from external and internal chaos. Traveling faraway, but still staying home was possible within the pages. Each person is a story and each person has a story. Whether fiction or nonfiction, stories R US.

From the beginning of the beginning, humans lived and then told narratives about tragedy and triumph. Themes of birthing and themes of dying – foundation of humanity. Themes of relationship and religion. Themes of love and lust, faithfulness and infidelity, fulfilled hearts and broken hearts. Themes of what was lost and themes of what was found. Good vs. evil. Right vs wrong. Rich vs poor. Tales of acceptance and tales of betrayal. Anecdotes about sex, kids, money; three salient aspects of daily living—full of drama. And chronicles of plagues, epidemics, and pandemics. Science fiction thrillers about diseases that devour humankind get made into movies. Fantasy, reality, or both?

Did the high school years of reading Harlequin Romance paperbacks insult my cerebral cortex? Probably. A masculine hero always rescued the fragile female. Girls were often portrayed as feisty, frigid, or frumpy. Love was the sickness in these mindless books—but also the medicine.

I grew up inside of an ink pen. With millions of words dancing inside my head, I tried to empty them out onto paper. Swirling-twirling words full of adolescent angst. Using poetry to alleviate the confusion and problems brought on by puberty. Journaling the day’s events into a pastel-colored diary with a key. Hiding it away from prying eyes of others. Years of writing for personal turned into writing for public. Through phases, stages, and ages, a writer writes. Because stories R US.

“Like many others who turned into writers, I disappeared into books when I was very young, disappeared into them like someone running into the woods. What surprised and still surprises me is that there was another side to the forest of stories and the solitude, that I came out that other side and met people there. Writers are solitaries by vocation and necessity. I sometimes think the test is not so much talent, which is not as rare as people think, but purpose or vocation, which manifests in part as the ability to endure a lot of solitude and keep working. Before writers are writers they are readers, living in books, through books, in the lives of others that are also the heads of others, in that act that is so intimate and yet so alone.” – Rebecca Solnit, in her essay Flight, from The Faraway Nearby

A recent article in Forbes is telling how to author our story. “COVID-19 has many of us hunkering down in place and social distancing. If you are a writer, and have all your survival needs met (food, shelter, support), then it might be the opportunity you need to get your story written. Whether it is a memoir (and boy will some be coming out about these times), or a novel, as an author and widely published writing coach who teaches for Writer’s Digest and NYU, I can share some tips on how to make the most of your story.”

Writer Garrett Graff is seeking stories from a wide range of US residents to compile a portrait of a nation in the grip of Covid-19. “We are living history every hour right now, for better or for worse, with little sense of which it is…My goal with this oral history project will be to capture the messiness and uncertainty as this pandemic unfolds.” Read more www.wired.com and email your stories to covid@wired.com.

One does not need to be a professional writer to compose her/his own account of the pandemic of 2020. Just follow the basics. A story needs to have a narrative arc (a beginning, middle, and end). The best character arc reveals an inner transformation, not just a change in circumstances.

You are part of the pandemic story and so am I. Write your own story and send it to your newspaper’s Letter to the Editor. Stories R US.

Melissa Martin, Ph.D. is an author, columnist, educator, and therapist. She lives in Ohio.

Jack Sylvester is back home!

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Jack Sylvester back home. (Photo courtesy of China Village Fire Department)

(Photo courtesy of China Village Fire Department)

Firefighters, law enforcement and rescue personnel from China and nearby towns paraded their vehicles down Main Street in China Village Sunday, April 5, in honor of retired firefighter, fire chief and China General Store owner Jack Sylvester, home after five months at the Woodlands Center, in Waterville. The flashing red and blue lights and noisy sirens accompanied a large Welcome Home, Jack, sign.

As the weather warms, look for Jack sitting on his front porch, often with wife Ann beside him, waving at passing drivers, with a special smile for the ones who obey the 25-mile-an-hour speed limit.

[See also: Jack’s – Where everybody knows your name]

The parade China’s first responders put on to welcome Jack, a former fire chief, back home. (Photo courtesy of China Village Fire Department)

Knox-Lincoln Conservation District plant sale canceled

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In response to the national emergency created by COVID-19 and Maine Governor Janet Mills’ Executive Order of March 31, 2020, which mandates that Maine citizens “Stay Healthy at Home” through at least April 30, the Knox-Lincoln Soil & Water Conservation District’s Board of Supervisors made the difficult decision to cancel our Spring Plant Sale, scheduled for May 2 and 3, 2020, at Union Fairgrounds. This includes the public sale and all pre-order sales. Although the sale itself falls outside the current mandate, the preparation for the sale would require hundreds of hours of labor by numerous volunteers in close, sustained contact during the period covered by the mandate.

This decision reflects what districts around the state and country are also doing and, still, it is a great disappointment to all. Providing food plants for home gardens and native plants for pollinators, other wildlife, as well as soil & water conservation benefits for home landscapes is extremely important to the District. In the end, however, we did not feel we could hold the sale and ensure the health of volunteers, customers and staff.

All customers who placed a pre-order will receive a refund. Thank you for your understanding in supporting this decision and look forward to a healthy and prosperous sale in 2021. Our office is currently closed but we are monitoring phone messages and email. If you have any questions or concerns, please call 596-2040 or email info@knox-lincon.org and we will respond as soon as possible. Please check our website at www.knox-lincoln.org for more information about this and other programs and to receive a plant sale catalog in 2021.