GORHAM, ME — Gorham’s Boy Scout Troop 73 is hosting a community rummage sale to raise funds to support Troop activities like camping adventures, community service projects and merit badge/rank advancement requirements. 

The Rummage sale will be held on June 1 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the parking lot to the west of Shaw Gym. 

On behalf of the troop, Mitch Zaninelli invites community members to also participate in the sale by renting a table to sell your own items. He said, “We really want to make this an annual community event that brings Gorham residents together each spring.  It is a great way to kick off your spring cleaning and give used items a second life instead of going to the dump.  We are also going to have some Boy Scout demonstration tables showcasing some of the skills the scouts are learning.”

Come to the sale and shop!

PORTLAND, ME – Emergencies don’t take a holiday, and the American Red Cross urges donors to keep the blood supply top of mind and help save lives by making an appointment to give blood or platelets.

Immediate access to blood products is a key part of summer safety. With millions of Americans expected to travel around Memorial Day and engage in water sports, boating, camping and other outdoor activities, the risk of accidents increases. Though it can be a busy time, making and keeping blood donation appointments remains a critical priority in May during Trauma Awareness Month.

Type O blood donors and those giving platelets are essential right now to meet the needs of hospitals. Volunteer blood donors can be the light in a patient’s recovery, especially accident victims who may require hundreds of blood units through transfusions.

Shine a light on saving lives. Schedule a time to give now by visiting RedCrossBlood.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS or by using the Red Cross Blood Donor App. Those who come to give by May 31, 2025, will receive an exclusive Red Cross solar lantern, while supplies last. Plus, all who come to give in May will be automatically entered for a chance to win a U.S. trip of their choice for two. Full details can be found at RedCrossBlood.org/May.

Those who come to give June 1-30, 2025, will get a $15 Amazon.com Gift Card by email and will be automatically entered for a chance to win one of two $7,000 gift cards. Terms apply. Visit RedCrossBlood.org/June.

Upcoming blood donation opportunities May-June

Cumberland

Bridgton

6/3/2025: 11 a.m. – 3:30 p.m., Masonic Hall, 166 Harrison Road, Route 117

Brunswick

5/30/2025: 9 a.m. – 1:30 p.m., American Legion Post 20, 1 Columbus Drive

6/11/2025: 12 p.m. – 5 p.m., Elks Lodge, 179 Park Row

Cape Elizabeth

6/12/2025: 12 p.m. – 4:30 p.m., Saint Bartholomew Church, 8 Two Lights Rd

Falmouth

6/11/2025: 10 a.m. – 2:30 p.m., Lunt Auditorium, 74 Lunt Road

Gorham

6/5/2025: 1 p.m. – 5:30 p.m., Cressey Road Christian Church, 81 Cressey Road

New Gloucester

6/11/2025: 9 a.m. – 3 p.m., The Commons, 59 Pineland Drive

Portland

5/29/2025: 9 a.m. – 2 p.m., One City Center, City Center

5/30/2025: 11 a.m. – 4 p.m., Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine, 1342 Congress St

6/2/2025: 9 a.m. – 1:30 p.m., Maine Medical Center – Dana Education Center, 22 Bramhall Street

Scarborough

6/3/2025: 12 p.m. – 5 p.m., Saint Maximilian Church, 150 Black Point Rd

6/9/2025: 9 a.m. – 2 p.m., Maine Health Institute for Research, 81 Research Dr

South Portland

6/3/2025: 9 a.m. – 1:30 p.m., South Portland Community Center, 21 Nelson Road

Standish

6/2/2025: 12 p.m. – 5 p.m., Gardenside Condo Association, 12 Gardenside Drive

Westbrook

6/13/2025: 12 p.m. – 4:30 p.m., Westbrook Community Center, 426 Bridge Street

Windham

5/29/2025: 10 a.m. – 2:30 p.m., North Windham Union Church, 723 Roosevelt Trail, Route 302

Yarmouth

6/6/2025: 11 a.m. – 4 p.m., American Legion Post 91, 196 Main St

GORHAM, ME – The North Gorham Public Library’s longstanding Monday Morning Book Club usually meets in the library on the fourth Monday of the month. This year, the fourth Monday in May is Memorial Day, and so the group will meet the following Monday, June 2, from 11 to noon. They are reading How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley. You are welcome to join either of our Book Clubs. You’ll need a library card, but we can give you one at no charge.

GORHAM, ME – Makers Market & Pick Your Own Blueberries Fest at Orchard Ridge Farm in Gorham! The Market is August 9th from 10-2 (rain date August 10th, 10-2).

We will have 30 Vendors selling their goods (Ceramics, Jewelry, Woodworking, Illustration and Painting, Vintage Clothes, Stained Glass, Soap and Body Products & More).

There will be live music, farm animals and we will have 2 food trucks, Gunnars Icelandic Hotdogs and Top it on the go serving up ice cream.

We are also having a BAKE SALE (blueberry themed) fundraiser for ARLGP with all the funds raised will go to help the shelter continue doing the amazing work they have been doing for years.

This event is going to be incredible and at the height of blueberry picking season, on one of the most beautiful local farms in Maine. We hope to see you there!

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced that she secured $23 million for the Maine Army Corps of Engineers to prevent erosion at Camp Ellis in Saco.  This funding, which was included in the Fiscal Year 2025 full-year continuing resolution, supports the construction of a 750-foot spur jetty and the replenishment of an estimated 300,000 cubic yards of sand fill.

“The construction of a spur jetty at Camp Ellis will help to prevent the severe erosion that has destroyed dozens of residents’ homes over generations,” said Senator Collins.  “As Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I worked hard to secure this funding, which will help to resolve this problem, protect property, and restore the receding shoreline.”

“On behalf of the City of Saco, we cannot be more thankful for the hard work and dedication to Senator Collins for the securing of these funds.   She has been a never-ending advocate in our partnership with the Army Corps of Engineers to secure our jetty in an attempt to protect our shoreline and all the residents who live there,” said Jodi MacPhail, Mayor of Saco.

“The City of Saco is very appreciative of Senator Collins’ hard work of releasing funding for the Camp Ellis project, now as a community we can look and move forward,” said John Bohenko, Saco City Administrator.

More than 150 years ago, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built a jetty extending out from the Saco River, adjacent to Camp Ellis Beach, and expanded it in the 1950s.  This jetty altered the pattern of currents and sand deposition and is the primary cause of the severe erosion of Camp Ellis, washing away 38 homes.  The 1998 shoreline was 400 feet from where the shoreline stood in 1908. 

AUGUSTA, ME – Sen. Stacy Brenner, D-Scarborough, is pleased to announce that the towns of Gorham and Scarborough in Senate District 30 are recipients of a Community Action Grant award from the Community Resilience Partnership. The partnership is administered by the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future to help Maine communities reduce emissions and prepare for the effects of extreme weather events brought on by climate change.

The recipient and amounts are:

Gorham: $56,077

Funding for the Municipal Building Lighting Retrofit project

Scarborough: $80,000

Funding for the Sustainable Scarborough Climate Action Plan

“Community engagement is crucial if we are to weather future storms,” said Sen. Stacy Brenner. “These grants are vital resources that allow our towns to take meaningful steps toward reducing emissions and preparing for the extreme weather events we know are coming. This funding will help ensure our communities are better equipped to build resilience and protect our shared future.”

Funding for the grants came from several sources, including measures passed by the Maine Legislature with Sen. Brenner’s support:

The Supplemental Budget that was passed by the Legislature in 2024 to increase community resilience and preparedness in the wake of the December 2023 and January 2024 storms;

Funds from the biennial budget authorized by the Legislature in 2023; and

A federal grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The grants in District 30 are part of a historic $8 million in funding for Community Resilience Partnership grants announced by Governor Janet Mills on May 1, 2025. This round of funding will support projects in 166 communities across Maine.

Sen. Brenner is in her third term in the Maine Senate. She currently serves on the Environment and Natural Resources Committee.

GORHAM, ME – A few weeks ago, Paula Boyce, who leads the North Gorham Public Library weekly Story Hour, read Mucky Truck to the children. It’s a story about a little truck stuck in the mud, and a fire truck helps get it out. Paula wondered if any local firefighters could give them a tour of the North Gorham Fire Station and tell the children what it’s like to be a firefighter. Her wish was granted.

Thank you, Captain Shane Enright, for making it happen, Tyler, from the Standish Fire Department, and Emma from the Gorham Fire Department, for sharing your time and stories, and for passing out fire helmets. Your visit was a huge success!

Story Hour is in the library every Wednesday morning from 10:30 to 11:30. Join the group! Check our Facebook page for updates.

FALMOUTH, ME – University of Maine Cooperative Extension is offering an 8-hour ServSafe® Food Protection Manager course on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Cumberland County office, 75 Clearwater Drive in Falmouth. The course helps prepare attendees for the ServSafe® Food Protection Manager Certification exam, which will be administered immediately following the course.

This nationally recognized certification is for anyone working in the food industry, including nonprofit organizations. The course covers topics such as food safety; personal hygiene; preventing cross-contamination; cleaning and sanitizing; time and temperature control; and receiving and storing food. Attendees will receive the ServSafe® Manager Book 7th Ed., a diagnostic exam and a practice exam approximately 2 weeks prior to the course. No refunds for the course will be issued.

The $150 fee covers the class, materials and exam. Register and find more details at the program website. For more information or to request reasonable accommodation, call the Cumberland County office at 207.781.6099 or 800.287.1471 (in Maine). Registration closes June 3, 2025.

Photo courtesy US Department of Agriculture.

AUGUSTA, ME – The Maine Department of Education (DOE) continues to promote climate education opportunities for school districts statewide with the recent publication of the Maine Climate Literacy Plan.

In the spring of 2024, the Maine DOE convened a taskforce to develop this statewide climate education plan, designed to support the Maine DOE Climate Education Program, which launched in 2023. This program takes a place-based, interdisciplinary approach to helping students learn more about our planet’s climate system and how it works.

So far in its three-year pilot, the Maine DOE Climate Education Program has supported nearly 30 locally-designed climate education professional learning opportunities throughout the state—including 10 underway this school year. Some examples include:

MSAD 17

Elementary, middle, and high school students in MSAD 17 are engaging in a wide range of experiential, environmental education programs through a partnership with Roberts Farms Preserve and the Center for an Ecology-Based Economy. Advisory groups made of teachers throughout the district help to guide and lead curriculum efforts. MSAD 17 recently expanded its capacity for this climate education work by unveiling a new experiential learning building at Roberts Farm Preserve.

Westbrook Middle School

Westbrook Middle School has a robust farming and environmental education program right in its own backyard. This year as part of the Maine DOE Climate Education Program, the middle school has hosted an educator from the Wild Seed Project three days a week to help teachers explore and learn more about the natural environment. Teachers work with the Wild Seed Project educator to integrate interdisciplinary lessons for students throughout the school day. This programming is set to continue throughout the spring.

RSU 34

RSU 34 in Old Town is wrapping up a busy year of programming through the Maine DOE Climate Education Program in partnership with the RiSE Center at the University of Maine. This initiative has focused on braiding together Indigenous knowledge and Western science to develop climate education curricula and support teacher professional learning. Celebratory events for this program will be hosted on Thursday, May 29, and Friday, May 30, at the UMaine Orono campus.

RSU 34 teachers participate in professional learning at the Hirundo Wildlife Preserve as part of the Maine DOE Climate Education Program.

GORHAM, ME – Spring is here! Flowers are in bloom, and on some days it’s warm outside! Here at the North Gorham Public Library, we’re getting geared up for our spring Plant and Book sale on Saturday, June 7, from 9 am to 1 pm.

Do you have any books or plants you’d like to donate?

Drop off books anytime the library is open, or if you only have a few, put them in our front door book drop. Please do not put books in the big green parcel container. We accept all books in decent condition except encyclopedias, textbooks, yearbooks, or Reader’s Digest condensed books.

Plants can be put in front of the library where the pavement begins or in the little driveway to the right. If you know the name of the plant, please add a label. We can dig up your plants for you if you need some help. You’re also welcome to donate plant pots, gardening tools, and other useful gardening paraphernalia.

If you want to get in touch, please drop by the library, email libng@north-gorham.lib.me.us, or leave a message at 892- 2575.

To keep you better informed about what’s happening at our library and in our community, we will now be sending out a monthly newsletter instead of a quarterly one.

Thank you for your support,

Diane Atwood, Library Director

Debbie Ledoux, Library Assistant