Raymond Village Library offering a huge community service from a small place - By Michelle Libby

The Raymond Village Library, under the direction of librarian and library director Sally Holt, is busting at the seams with books for all ages, computers, study areas and even a telescope. 

“Books are very personal. They can teach you something,” said Holt. “The library is a place people love.” However, libraries are changing and with it librarians have to adapt to be librarians in the library, on the Internet and out of the library. Raymond Village Library (RVL) has increased membership, circulation and patron visits over the last year, Holt said. “In fact, everything is up.” Adult programs take place most Wednesday nights range from author chats to adult education programs. Last year there were 33 programs and attendance was at 599 people.

“This is a wonderful launching pad for new authors. The oral tradition talks about who we are and helps to build a closer relationship with the town,” said Holt. Children’s programs like story time happened 90 times with 2,395 children attending. 

The library has been in existence since the early 1900s but it looked a lot different. “Books were placed "in the parlors of Mrs. Atwood Tukey, Mrs. Lulu Burdge and Mrs. Andrew Leavitt, in Mrs. John Hayden's stable, Albert Plummer's front hall, and in one of the entries of the Village Church," according to the late Eleanor Plummer, one of the founding members of the Raymond Woman's Club, who organized the library. 

Today’s library on Route 121 was built in 1969 and was financed entirely by fundraisers the Woman’s Club held. In 1979, the children’s room was added and dedicated to Eleanor Plummer. 

In 1984 the name was changed to Raymond Woman's Library Club. In 1995 this was further changed to reflect the interest and assistance from the men of the community, and became the Raymond Library Club.

In 1996, the library voted again to change the organization's name, this time to the Raymond Village Library Club and hired their first library director.  Also in 2001, due to the remarkable success of the children's programs, we hired a second staff member, the youth services coordinator, said Holt.

In October 2003, more changes came to the library, changing its structure to an incorporated non-profit organization. The library is now overseen by a board of trustees, plus one selectperson from the Town of Raymond who serves as an ex-officio member. The board sets policy for the library and is responsible for maintaining funding for operations.

The library is open to everyone and Holt sees all types of people. “People looking for jobs, researching a paper about ice harvesting on Sebago Lake in the 1920s, people who come every year and new people who come into town,” she said. “Everybody and anybody. Every person who comes in here is a special person.” 

 

Librarians are well trained professionals who know how to help the people who walk in the door, from a dad and daughter looking for monster books to children who are looking for chapter books. “I try to find what they want or something you know about that will enhance what they’re doing,” said Holt, who has a Master’s degree of library sciences from Clarion University and a BS in secondary education. 

Holt’s favorite genre is biographies, but she is also a fan of magazines, of which the library subscribes to 20 different ones. She also reads newspapers. “It helps me talk to people about many things and give me a broad range of what’s going on in many areas.” She calls this “incidental knowledge” where she can connect with patrons and be on level ground. It’s one way she provides great, caring customer service.  

Volunteers are the lifeblood of RVL. Although they cannot do the work of the paid staff, they help with shelving books and helping Holt in other library duties. “We have some excellent volunteers. Our publicity person has been helping for close to 20 years,” Holt said. 

The library was automated a year ago thanks to a grant. Most of Maine’s small libraries, almost one-third, are not automated. 

RVL has to earn through grants and fundraisers $50,000 to keep the doors open and the lights on each year. They have received money from businesses and groups like Gorham Savings Bank, Norway Savings Bank, Loon Echo Land Trust, PTO and Maine Romance Writers. 

Finding the money is an everyday struggle for Holt and on top of that she works to keep the library relevant to what her patrons want. She is planning a crochet and knitting needle library for people to check out the items they need for a project. She would also like to see a cake pan library. 

This past week, Legos arrived at RVL for a Lego club that has been started. With the addition of the new programs and the never ending demand for new books, publications and technology, RVL has run out of space. 

“We need a larger space, computer classes, teen activities and more activities for people to gather,” said Holt. “Where else in the country can go for no reason, stay the whole day and you don’t have to spend a penny.” The wi-fi is free and the volunteers are friendly.

“It’s a super library and a super community. They need to do what they can to hold onto this library,” said Holt. 

Local businesses and residents are asked to help with the annual appeal that is currently going to meet the budgetary needs of the library. RVL does receive small grants and local businesses have been generous, said Holt. She added that the library does get some support from the town. One of the fundraisers RVL does is a Raymond Garden Tour 2015, where residents open their gardens for viewing to the public. 

“If they have (a library) they need to hold on to it. It’s the first and last place people go for information,” said Holt. 

Libraries around the area work together to keep current. They use the resources of the Maine State Library, which is looking out for them, Holt said. 

RVL just joined the interlibrary loan van service, which usually costs $800, but Holt was able to get the service through the Maine State Library. This increased the collection of RVL exponentially.

“I don’t want people to leave feeling satisfied. I want them to leave feeling delighted,” she said.

The "under construction" picture on the right is from 1996. This addition nearly doubled the library's space and was funded primarily by a capital campaign. 

Raymond Village Library History

 

Chief Hammond awarded the Maine Fire Chiefs Association award - By Michelle Libby

Windham’s Fire Chief Charlie Hammond was awarded the Maine Fire Chiefs Association’s 2014 Fire Chief of the Year Award at a banquet this month. 

“To me it’s a recognition of a career’s worth of accomplishments. There are significant events I think back to that were great accomplishments,” said Hammond. “Most important are the citizens gaining something from it.” 

The important awards are “people who come up to me at Hannaford to say, ‘you came to my house.’ Those are the things that mean the most,” said Hammond. 

Hammond was nominated by Town Manager Tony Plante. “I felt that the chief should be recognized for his contributions to the fire-rescue service not just in Windham but in our region, and for his lifetime of public service,” he said. 

“I don’t consider myself a fire chief any different from one from a small community,” Hammond said. “He has the same challenges and adventures we have, but on a smaller scale. Those are his tests. With us, ours is a transitional state. We’re moving the ball forward. The town council allowed us to fund two people being in North Windham overnight.” This allows response times to be four minutes faster in some cases, providing medical care or fire suppression that much sooner. 

Chief Hammond has seen many changes since he started working in Windham as the fire chief, he said, especially the fire trucks, which are much more current now.

The award was presented in Augusta at the Fire Chief’s Annual meeting. In attendance were Stanlee Emerson from WFD, Plante, councilman Dave Nadeau, assistant town manager/HR director Phyllis Moss, library director Jen Alvino, Hammond’s son, Andy, who is a Portland firefighter and area chiefs. 

Hammond will retire mid-January. The search process is underway for a new chief. 

“They pay me to do a job and I hope I do it to their satisfaction,” said Hammond.

Community encouraged to support "Be The Influence" By Michelle Libby

Tuesday night, Windham Police officer Matt Cyr and two eighth-grade students, Ashley Lewis and Griffin MacVane requested that the Town of Raymond sign a petition and join the Town of Windham, RSU14 School Board of Directors, the Windham Police Department, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office and the Sebago Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce, in the support of the “Be the Influence” campaign. The community wide crusade is to provide positive examples and information to keep teens away from drugs and alcohol. 

 

“We need to muster the community to be involved,” said Cyr. 

Cyr and the boys were joined by Windham High School assistant principal Kelli Deveaux and Jordan-Small Middle School and Raymond Elementary School guidance counselor LynnEve Davis as they explained that just having one group, the school for example, lecture the students about substance abuse isn’t good enough. They need to hear positive messages from every corner of the communities they live in. 

“We need federal funds to make this really big idea a really big success,” said Cyr, who has received the first grant of $60,000. 

The group was created with a lot of student input. The children didn’t want to be preached to. “Be the influence, decisions matter,” they told the group of adults gathered and the slogan was born. 

The middle school is the first time peers are more influential than parents and adults. However, what adults do in front of the teens is likely to have a direct impact over their choices, Davis told the Raymond Select Board. 

“Adults that think drinking is okay have teens that are two times as likely to drink,” said Davis. At the high school level, teens who have seen adults drunk or high in the last five years, are five times as likely to drink and four times as likely to use marijuana, she added. 

“Scare tactics don’t work,” said Deveaux. “Students need to feel valued and have a voice and a say.”

The program Be the Influence was created by the Be the Influence Collaborative whose membership includes RSU 14 school staff, Windham and Cumberland County Police officers, Town Managers, parents, local organizations, Chamber of Commerce, libraries, recreation departments, and community members. The campaign includes a website, www.BeTheInfluenceWRW.org, that offers information on preventing teens from using drugs and alcohol as well as supports available in the community for parents, community members and schools. 

The students, under the direction of Cyr, discuss being a leader and how not to follow people down the road of drugs and alcohol. 

“To be a leader is really to not go with the crowd. Leaders make an impact on the community. If you make a good decision the followers will follow you,” said MacVane. 

Aimee Senatore, the Executive Director of the Sebago Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce said, “… businesses in Windham and Raymond have a responsibility to understand the challenges facing their communities and take an active role and stake in supporting this initiative… Substance abuse is hurting our companies’ bottom line and their ability to grow their business.”

As a current Drug free Community Coalition, Liz Blackwell-Moore, substance abuse prevention coordinator at The Opportunity Alliance, announced that the Public Health Program has $60,000 through the federal grant to mentor the Be the Influence Collaborative. “Through this grant, the Public Health program will be able to hire a part time coordinator for the Be the Influence Collaborative and will offer support to the Collaborative to write a full Drug Free Communities Grant in the spring which is worth up to $125,000 a year for 5 years.” 

The Windham Council recently passed a resolution to support the campaign. 

 At the launch event on Monday, Windham Town Manager Tony Plante said, “Substance abuse is a community problem that requires a community response. The mission of the Be the Influence Campaign is to promote community collaboration and positive choices in an effort to reduce substance use and abuse. ” 

The Raymond Select Board voted unanimously to sign the resolution and support the initiative.

Raymond Select Board takes public comments and concerns about withdrawing from RSU14 - By Michelle Libby

Tuesday night the Raymond Select Board held a public hearing about the proposal to look into withdrawing from RSU14. They will have a question on the ballot on November 4 asking, “Do you favor filing a petition for withdrawal with the board of directors of RSU14 and with the Commissioner of Education, authorizing the withdrawal committee to expend $25,000 and authorizing the Raymond Board of Selectmen to issue notes in the name of the Town of Raymond or otherwise pledge the credit of the Town of Raymond in an amount not to exceed $25,000 for this purpose?”
 

The money would come out of the selectmen contingency, said chair Michael Reynolds. “This hearing is step four of a 22 step process.” 

The vote would give the town the permission to create a committee of four which would look into the feasibility and pros and cons of withdrawing from the RSU. Voting yes does not mean that Raymond wants to leave, it means they want to explore what that would look like, said selectman Teresa Sadak, who took out the petition and turned it in with 352 signatures on it. 

In the audience was superintendent Sandy Prince and assistant superintendent Don Davis along with RSU14 board chair Marge Govoni and school board member Diana Froisland, co-chair and Raymond resident.

Former RSU14 board chair Catriona Sangster spoke. “This vote starts the investigation process. It can take up to two years. Consolidation has been challenging and has been disruptive,” she started. She was concerned if this was a two year process. “Our teachers are going to go bonkers. They’re just figuring out how to work with teacher teams districtwide. This would mean up to two years of insecurity. What about our children’s education?”

Sadak said the reason Raymond gave the State Board of Education was that Windham wanted to build a middle school without state funding. “It’s about a lot of things and various reasons,” Sadak said. 

Sue Accardi, Windham High School nurse said, “I’m very saddened over all of this. I remember when we didn’t know where to send our middle school kids. Our kids were sent out all over the place. I’m thinking of the benefits – food service, I’m thinking of the pictures of the kids in the cooking class, collaboration of health services and the work that has gone into the policies.”

A few of the speakers were concerned about the lack of representation they would have if they were not part of an RSU. They would have control over their own K – 8 system, but beyond that they would not. As it stands, Raymond has three seats on the RSU14 school board. 

“There was a lot of hurt over the redistricting. I hope this is not what it’s about,” said Accardi. 

Grace Levitt wanted to see the $25,000 ear marked for investigation to be used for more staff for the students. “You lose all local control after eighth grade. You’re not part of the school committee,” she said. 

Right now Raymond has school choice for high school and they are able to send their children to any number of high schools in the area, but the town must pay $7,900 for each of those students who do not choose to go to Windham High School. 

“Maybe we rushed into it a little bit, but I wanted this to be in a major election cycle,” Reynolds said. If they town says to start the process, the committee can return to the select board and the town at any point and say that they want to stop the process. 

In the end it will take a two-thirds vote of all voters in the town to pass the withdrawal. 

Windham resident Michelle Jordan spoke about the suggested middle school proposals. “I encourage you to talk to your neighbors, talk to your friends. Understand, contact a member of that committee. This will have a huge impact on your children.” She encouraged all parents and community members to get involved. 

Board co-chair Froisland added some dollar figures to the discussion. Looking at the six years prior to consolidation the tax increase was $1.6 million. After consolidation it was $450,000. If Raymond were to withdraw, it would have to put back additional staff and that could be over half a million dollars, she said. With 172 high school students at $7,900 for tuition waivers the cost would be $1.3 million just for tuition. 

“I’m depressed that this has gone through so quickly,” Froisland said. 

“If they don’t want it, then vote no,” Sadak said. 

There is information about the cost sharing formula, the middle school advisory committee and all RSU14 board meetings on the RSU14 website and all school board meeting are open to the public.

“The students are more important than money,” said Marleen Turner, who was one who signed the petition. 

“A lot of miss information got out there. I hope people will consider what they heard,” Sangster said.