PowerServe lights the way for community engagement and service

The creator of the 302 Rotary light display is PowerServe,
a local community volunteer group that is dedicated to
serving the Windham community. Here the Rotary is
displayed in hues honoring the Ukrainian national colors.
SUBMITTED PHOTO  

By Masha Yurkevich

Many may have noticed the lights honoring Ukraine that shine brightly around the rotary on Routes 202 and 302. There have been some inquiries on social media platforms wondering who the responsible party is for the illumination of Christmas lights that now display the national colors of Ukraine.

The initiator of this often talked about illumination is PowerServe, a local community volunteer group that gathers annually to help serve the Windham community. PowerServe started in 2016 when Shane Donnelly, a Windham High School (WHS) student, passed away unexpectedly at the age of 16. Windham resident Kristine Delano, Chair of YoungLife Sebago whose daughters attended WHS at the time, witnessed the sense of loss happening to the students and knew something needed to be done. 

“Seeing firsthand the amazing job that YoungLife leaders did in mentoring teens in the Sebago area, Delano wanted to build a legacy of service in our community to build encouragement and connectivity,” Sam Patton, Day Director and Sponsor Coordinator of PowerServe said. “She, her family and other YoungLife leaders recruited a small group of volunteers to organize a day that would help our community, be fun, and enable all generations to work together.” 

The organization provides services such as paint sheds, build trail bridges, pick up trash, restore historic graves, plant memorials and much more. 

WHS Juniors, Maddie Hancock and Grace Paiement are both volunteers for PowerServe and act as the school liaisons with the organization to continue the PowerServe tradition. Hancock first got involved with her family and then got reinvolved when the event was advertised through National Honors Society, which is when Paiement also got involved. From there, both Hancock and Paiement talked with Patton Day and got involved in the planning process.

Last year, due to COVID-19, PowerServe was not able to gather in its usual large numbers of volunteers. Fortunately, they still found a way to help the community by creating the light display to be enjoyed during the evening hours.  

This year, PowerServe will continue its kind acts.

“The committee has been meeting once a week to plan events for this Memorial Day,” Hancock. “We are planning to do around five projects for the community and about another five projects for someone in the community in need.” 

Their next community service project is planned for Memorial Day. Hancock said that their project coming up has a goal of getting 120 volunteers of which all will get a PowerServe t-shirt with a barbeque after the projects are completed.

The volunteers will be separated into smaller groups of six to ten volunteers who be assigned a specific project. Each project usually takes between two to four hours. Upon completion of the project, the Donnelly family honors their son’s life by providing the barbeque meal and offering an opportunity for volunteers to share their experiences about the day. 

“These memories last for years and we keep coming back for more,” said Patton. “This is a day where friends and family can serve and invest in the town together. They can help their neighbors together and meet others. Some connections are still going years later and have continued to support one another.”

Their next big event will be on Memorial Day, May 30th, 2022. To sign and volunteer, please visit their website at www.powerserve.me/home. 

If you know a person in the community who is in need, you can also nominate them through the same website.  

Briefly, YoungLife is a Christian organization whose focus is to make sure that middle and high school students have positive role models in their lives. As stated on their website, YoungLife leaders make sure people feel a sense of belonging and encourage teens as they navigate life as an adolescent. 

PowerServe is sponsored by a loyal set of businesses which include, but are not limited to, YoungLife Sebago, Gorham Savings Bank, Lowes, Shaw Earthworks, Windham Rental, Bob's Screen printing, Hannaford, Island Cove Builders, Benson Farms and more. If you would like to sponsor PowerServe, you may do so on their website, www.powerserve.me/home. <

Windham Area Clergy encourages everyone to help neighbors as part of July 4th festivities

Clergy serving churches in the Windham area were meeting for lunch at Rustler’s Steak House last Wednesday when they struck upon an idea: we do a whole lot for our neighbors known and nearby—Monday Meals, the Essentials Pantry, collecting backpacks and school supplies for RSU14 students, the new Fuller Center for Housing chapter renovating low-income housing in the Lakes Region, and so much more—let’s build on that spirit of generosity and provide an opportunity for our community to support our newest neighbors, the asylum seekers currently being housed at the Expo Center in Portland.

So, on July 7, from 8:30 a.m. to noon, at three collection sites (Faith Lutheran Church, 988 Roosevelt Trail, St. Ann’s Episcopal Church, 40 Windham Center Road, and Windham Hill United Church of Christ, 140 Windham Center Road) The Windham Area Clergy Association (WACA) will be accepting donations of toothpaste, toilet paper, bar soap and suitcases/duffel bags (new or gently used, in good working order). They will deliver everything that is donated to Gateway Community Services in Portland for distribution to the families seeking asylum.  (Please note—only those items listed: toothpaste, toilet paper, bar soap, and suitcases/duffel bags can be accepted on July 7.  Current needs and limited storage capacity dictate that only these specific items will be collected.)

“We believe that we are so blessed as American people that out of a response for our many blessings   “On the Fourth of July, we celebrate America’s freedom, the same freedom that drew our newest neighbors to seek asylum here.”
during Fourth of July week, this is one way that we can live the Gospel of Jesus, by responding to the new folks who have joined us in Portland,” said Rev. Tim Higgins, Rector of St. Ann’s Episcopal Church.

The Rev. Sally Colgrove, pastor of Windham Hill United Church of Christ, stated that her congregation’s Board of Deacons wholeheartedly approved of this mission project. “We’re taking part in the collection day on July 7^th as a way of giving thanks for our freedom and independence,” Colgrove explained.

At Faith Lutheran Church (FLC), they have decided to expand their collection to include both the items destined for Portland and items needed at the Essentials Pantry they help to operate with St. Ann’s Episcopal—a pantry that provides items our Windham neighbors who can’t use SNAP benefits (“food stamps”) to buy.  So FLC will also be collecting shaving cream, paper towels and dish soap.

“Jesus was pretty clear,” Faith Lutheran’s pastor, Rev. Jane Field, said, “We are to love our neighbors—no exceptions! And he taught that when we welcome a stranger, we welcome Him. So, we don’t believe expressions of generosity should be thought of as ‘either/or.’ They can be ‘both/and.’ That’s the thing about love—when it’s shared, it isn’t used up; it expands. We can love both our neighbors nearby and our new neighbors.”

Editor’s Note:

For Windham, Raymond and other Lake Region residents, in addition to the local services mentioned
above (St. Ann’s Essential Pantry, Free Monday Meals, etc.) area churches also offer other services for those in need. They are as follows:

*Free monthly meals at Raymond Village Community Church (FMI: call 207-655-7749)

*Thrift shop at North Windham Union Church (Wednesday and Thursday 10 to noon and fourth Saturday of each month, also 10 to noon.)

*Windham Assembly of God will be hosting at Back-To-School event on August 24^th from 11 a.m. to noon. The church will offer free clothing, books, haircuts, and health screenings to students to get them ready to go back to school. The entire event is free and will include food.

If there are other churches in the Windham and Raymond communities that offer free services, please contact the Editor at lorraine@thewindhameagle.com.

D.A.R.E. to Adventure students raise funds and help community through “Labor for Donations”

D.A.R.E to Adventure members hard at work

By Elizabeth Richards

Leadership skills, communication skills, community building, bridging social groups and outdoor adventure training are just a few of the benefits for students who participate in D.A.R.E. to Adventure at Windham Middle School. 

The program goes well beyond the traditional Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) curriculums. Led by Community Service Officer Matt Cyr of the Windham Police Department, the program incorporates elements similar to programs like Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Outward Bound to teach students leadership skills. 

The group is made up of 20 students – ten seventh and ten eighth graders - from all different social groups who have shown leadership qualities or potential. “Our goal is for them to come out and learn leadership and team building, then go back to their peers and help their peers make good decisions. That’s the big idea,” Cyr said.

“The reason we keep it so small is because of the mentoring piece that happens. I get pretty close to all of them,” Cyr said.

The group meets after school on Mondays and Wednesdays, participating in both team building and skill building activities. In the spring, Cyr begins teaching students how to roll a kayak. “It’s not so much about the kayaking as what they gain from doing it,” he said. Not everyone is successful with the roll, but they gain confidence, a sense of accomplishment for the things they can do and learn about taking positive risks.

The year culminates with an outdoor adventure trip. They begin with a ropes course then alternate between two days of whitewater rafting one year and a day of rock climbing and one of rafting the next. Cyr also teaches the students First Aid and CPR, and all are required to complete this training before going on the year end trip.

While there has always been some fundraising for the D.A.R.E. to Adventure program, it didn’t come close to paying for that year end trip. Student Josh Noyes said that he and his mother didn’t think it was right for Cyr to have to fund a large portion of the trip. They set a goal of raising $5000 this year to fully fund the trip for all the students. 

The whole goal is that he doesn’t have to pay for it, and we get a part in it,” Noyes said of their fundraising program called “Labor for Donations.”  D.A.R.E. to Adventure students go door to door asking people if they have any work they need completed. They have shoveled loam, moved brush and have other jobs, including fall clean up, coming. Parents of students in the program have also stepped up, donating their time to the efforts.

Kimberly Noyes, Josh’s mother, said that Officer Cyr is passionate about the D.A.R.E. to Adventure program and truly cares for kids in Windham. He makes the students – and their parents – passionate about the program as well, she said.

Morgan Hammond, a student participant, said that Labor for Donations helps the community as well. “Before, we didn’t do as much for other people,” she said. 

Haley Atherton added, “It helps other people learn about what Dare to Adventure is all about and how we’re helping the community. Not a lot of adults really know about this great program and how it really affects everyone else in the school district, and how we’re helping our community in different ways.”

Upcoming fundraisers include possibly shoveling in the winter, a fundraiser dance, participating in a craft fair at the high school on November 10 and 11, and activities at summer fest.

The program creates close bonds among participants. Atherton said she has learned leadership skills and made friends she wouldn’t have otherwise known. “The kids that are in the group now wouldn’t have really met each other or talked to each other if we hadn’t been in this program. It helps us become really good friends,” she said. 

Atherton thinks the program will help them later as well. “In high school when we go back into these social groups that we’re in, it will help us help our friends, but also help us when we get into those tough situations. It helps us build a better thought process,” she said.

Levi McDonald agreed.  “It helps me get more social with other people and learn leadership and how to have fun and make the right choices, positive choices,” he said. 

D.A.R.E. to Adventure also helps build bridges between social groups the students said. “If there’s any drama between social groups, there’s always people that know each other,” said Hammond.  “It’s exactly like a team with any sport. You all get along with everyone and learn stuff as a group. You get to see beyond your friends,” she said. 

Finn Smith said, “I feel like DARE is a good place to make lifelong friends.”

Students who participate in D.A.R.E. to Adventure often maintain contact with Cyr and come back to mentor younger students. Their reasons for doing so vary, but all emphasize the positive impact of the program.  

Tenth grader Ezra Smith said he returns because he wants younger kids to know they have someone to support them when they go to high school.  “It’s good to be somewhere you feel accepted,” he said.

Kyle McLeese, a ninth grader, said, “I definitely gained a lot of friends from the program, and people who accept me for who I am, so I keep coming back for that.”