Windham couple grateful for community’s help in finding missing cat

By Ed Pierce

Breyanna Barboza of Windham continued to pray for a miracle and clung to the hope that her beloved lost cat Kitty would return home safely.

After being missing for 37 days, Breyanna
Barboza's beloved missing cat Kitty was
found on Emerson Drive in Windham on
Oct. 18. The cat disappeared from
Barboza's Pope Road home on Sept. 12,
prompting a frantic five-week search for
the lost poet. SUBMITTED PHOTO  

Barboza has owned Kitty for the past nine years since he was just six weeks old and she was desperate to find him. She and her fiancé Gary Trask searched for Kitty for weeks without any luck and as the weather got cold this fall, Breyanna, who is on disability, worried that her pet might never be found.

On Saturday, Sept. 12, Breyanna attended a wedding and when she returned home afterward, she discovered Kitty, who was born outside in a barn and is an outdoor/indoor cat, was missing.

“He has never done this before in the nine years that I’ve had him,” Breyanna said. “I knew instantly something was not right and I felt it in my whole being.”

The couple then took steps to try and find their lost cat. They called local animal shelters and local veterinarians, alerted neighbors, posted Kitty’s photographs on social media and began to walk streets around their Pope Road home calling out for him.

“I walked miles a day until my body could no longer walk because of my disorders. I posted on the Windham community page every week, walked to all the neighbors around me and asked for them to look for him and keep an eye out,” Breyanna said. “We printed flyers and put them in neighbors’ mailboxes, called animal shelters, vets, and everywhere I could to try to find him.”

She said the ordeal was gut-wrenching and didn’t know how she could cope if Kitty was never found.

“Honestly the love I have for Kitty is what kept me going,” Breyanna said. “For the first few days when he went missing, I went to the field near my house and just cried and cried and cried. I didn't want to be here on this earth without him. But I knew I had to keep going because I love him and I needed to find out answers and had to keep trying. He deserves that. He deserved me not giving up complete hope and I pushed myself to keep trying.”

Gary works night shift and sleeps during the day, but he was supportive of the search, as were Breyanna’s roommates who lent a hand by calling neighbors alerting them about the missing cat.

“Other than that, it was mostly me walking miles a day to try to see where he could have gone,” Breyanna said. “People kept telling me not give up hope, look under sheds and other spots like that, set out traps, shake treats and call for him.”

As time went on, Breyanna found it hard for her to accept that Kitty was gone.

“I thought he had passed away because it was so unlike him to do,” she said. “I still kept hope, because he's everything to me and I would never ever just give up looking. I looked even though everything inside me felt in agony without him.”

According to Breyanna, the compassion shown to her by the community helped her cope.

“People's kindness made me get through. If I heard ‘you are a horrible person for letting him outside,’ I would be not here I don't think,” she said.” When he went missing honestly everything in me went into agony.”

The search went on for 37 days until Kimberly Cook saw a post on the Windham Maine Community Board Unfiltered containing photos of a found cat in Windham. She remembered Breyanna’s posts on the Windham Maine Community Board and she sent Breyanna a message on Sunday, Oct. 18.

“Someone named Melissa Ann Dalrymple posted pictures of him. He was all the way by Emerson Drive about 2.2. miles away in Windham,” Breyanna said. “She just posted how he got in her car and didn't want to leave her car. She stayed with him for two hours outside and fed him, so he wasn't alone and posted on the Windham Maine Community Board Unfiltered page how he was in her car.”

Breyanna then woke Gary up and told him that Kitty had been found and he was alive.

“When I saw the message that he was found and the pictures of him, I ran out the door so fast and forgot the address and everything because I was that excited,” she said. “Gary had to look it up and everything because my heart was beating so fast. It didn't feel real at first.”

They drove over to Melissa’s house, picked Kitty up and then brought him home.

“He's doing great,” Breyanna said. “He's so happy to be here. He follows me around, meows and listens like he always used to. Everything I say he just looks and understands.”

She believed her continued posts trying to find Kitty helped find him.

“I would love to say to the community after this hard, hard time thank you for keeping me updated with sightings if you saw him and made me feel better about him being an outdoor cat to and didn't judge me for it,” she said. “His happiness is the most important thing to me. Thank you for keeping him in your prayers. It’s a miracle to have him back.” <

PowerServe: A decade of service through the Donnelly Family’s eyes

By Lorraine Glowczak

The special spring tradition of volunteering continues, bringing neighbors together once again and marking 10 years of service rooted in compassion, connection, and community. PowerServe participants will gather for another day of community service, beginning at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, May 9, on the Windham Historical Society campus before volunteers disperse to their assigned community projects, and return at 1 p.m. for a shared lunch.

In celebration of its 10-year anniversary, PowerServe hopes
to complete at least 35 service projects with 250 volunteers
at its community service event on May 9 in Windham. 
COURTESY PHOTO  

0 Although the focus is community service, PowerServe has been more than a volunteer event. From the very beginning, the organization has also been a story about people, purpose, and the ripple effect of one teenager’s belief that caring for a community can create lasting change.

This annual volunteer-driven initiative continues to live out its mission of “caring boldly and serving strong.” Often described as a spark of light in the community, PowerServe began as a way to simply turn grief into action.

Launched in 2016 after the unexpected passing of 16-year-old Shane Donnelly, the effort started when Kristine Delano of YoungLife Sebago saw the impact on the students at Windham High School and the wider community and felt called to respond. Inspired by the power of community service, she created a day in early May 2016 to unite the community in kindness and connection in Shane’s honor.

For the Donnelly family, PowerServe is deeply personal – a legacy of compassion that began with a vision to help others and has grown far beyond what they imagined. Each year, they watch that spark spread, drawing in about 200 volunteers and strengthening community bonds through projects like yard cleanups, painting, and small repairs for Windham neighbors and nonprofits.

“When you lose a child, you enter a kind of grief you never imagined,” Shane’s mother, Kim Donnelly said. “But out of something so tragic, something unexpectedly beautiful has grown. People experience loss every day, yet what PowerServe has become is a reflection of community – where nearly two-thirds of the volunteers are youth and students serving alongside adults, all working together.”

Shane’s sister, Maddie Donnelly, a senior at WHS, who was 7 years old at the time of his passing, said her brother carried a quiet, steady outlook on life that was rooted in the outdoors and a deep caring for others. 

“Whether he was talking about college, dreaming of becoming a Maine Game Warden, or simply enjoying time outside, he found a sense of peace and tranquility in nature,” she said. “He was also known for offering kind words and giving others the benefit of the doubt, always choosing compassion first.”

Maddie shared that his compassion for others truly lives on in the spirit of PowerServe, and she is determined to keep that spirit alive by spreading the word about the organization. This year, she did so through her Senior Capstone Project, a graduation requirement.

“It felt like an easy decision to choose PowerServe as my capstone topic,” she said. “Sharing PowerServe and helping people learn about it just made sense. It speaks to the kind of person Shane was and it feels good to make others feel good in his honor. He loved serving others and being outdoors – this is something he would have truly enjoyed doing.”

She said that PowerServe is not just about the projects being completed, it’s about the people being present with one another. It’s about connections.

“Watching volunteers and recipients sit down, talk, and truly connect is what stays with you, Maddie said. “Some of the most meaningful stories come afterward from neighbors who didn’t just receive help, but also shared time, laughter, and a sense of being seen.”

Maddie agrees with her mother, saying that she enjoys connecting with the recipients.

“Our conversations are so much fun and we create lasting memories,” she said. “Sometimes we spend at least an hour talking with each other. It leaves everyone feeling genuinely uplifted.”

As for the requests for assistance, the Donnellys say that it is often a friend, neighbor, or loved one who makes the request for others. 

“People who need help with gardens, painting, etc. generally do not want to burden family, and once we step in, we keep checking back to see how they’re doing, even helping them enjoy flower gardens they haven’t been able to tend to in years,” they said. 

PowerServe, which recently became an official nonprofit, allows all donated funds to stay in Windham, and is hoping to complete at least 35 service projects with 250 volunteers at its community service event on May 9.

“The more volunteers, the more projects we can do and the more people we can help, the better able to make a greater impact and difference in our community, which exemplifies Shane’s personality and would make him so happy,” Maddie said.

As PowerServe celebrates a decade of service, its impact is measured not just in completed projects, but in the relationships built, the gratitude shared, and the reminder that meaningful change often starts with a simple decision to show up and help.

For more details about PowerServe, to volunteer to help, or to request a project, send an email to [email protected]. <