This year’s Encore Leadership Corps’ Summit, held at Point Lookout Resort in Northport on May 21 and 22, will feature a presentation by Dan Burden, a nationally-recognized expert on strategies for creating pedestrian and bicycle friendly communities. The Executive Director of Walkable and Livable Communities, Dan has spent more than 35 years helping the world get “back on its feet” and his efforts have not only earned him the first-ever lifetime-achievement awards issued by the New Partners for Smart Growth and the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals, but in 2001, Dan was named by TIME magazine as “one of the six most important civic innovators in the world.”  In 2009, a user’s poll by Planetizen named Dan as one of the Top 100 Urban Thinkers of all time.

In 2009, Dan co-founded the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute with Director of Education Sarah Bowman to create a focus on education, capacity-building and training to support communities in becoming more engaged and healthier through active living.

During his presentation, Dan will explain how walkability and livability benefit a community and participants will leave with an expanded toolkit from which to build healthier neighborhoods.

Other speakers at the Summit this year include Linda Silka, Director of the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, who will discuss how diverse organizations can find commonalities that make it possible to work together to strengthen communities, and Nancy Smith, Director of GrowSmart Maine, who will explore Charting Maine’s Future, which was released in the fall of 2006 and attracted the enthusiasm of people across the state with a common vision of Maine’s promise and who support bringing that vision to reality.

Click here for more information or to register for the Summit.

Mary Berger and Mike Hall created Karl's Kids in memory of her late husband.

Karl Berger was a man loved and admired by many. A town selectman in Bremen, Karl was also the Treasurer of the Damariscotta-Newcastle Rotary, a baseball umpire for over 30 years, avid skier and loving husband and father. When he suddenly died of a heart attack five years ago, many who knew him were deeply saddened and left wondering how to fill the large void he left behind.

A fellow Rotarian, Mike Hall of Halls Funeral Homes, wanted to honor Karl in some way. He knew Karl loved to ski and loved to see kids participate in sports. Soon, Mike approached Karl’s widow, ENCorps member MARY BERGER, with an idea. He wanted to connect the coast and the mountains of Maine and do something to benefit kids. With lots of brainstorming, Karl’s Kids was born.

With the stewardship of Mary, Mike and many Rotarians, Karl’s Kids honors and continues Karl’s passion to support community youth and their development through athletics. The program has successfully raised money through events at Sugarloaf to provide athletic equipment to children up to 18 years old in Lincoln County who may otherwise not be able to afford to be involved in sports.

As an honorary Damariscotta-Newcastle Rotarian, Mary helps promote Karl’s Kids through speaking engagements and fundraising. She assists recipients with acquiring needed equipment and helps with the organization’s signature fund-raising event, a fun race down the Boardwalk trail at Sugarloaf. Kids and grown-ups alike pay a small fee to race each other through the gates on one of Sugarloaf’s most popular trails. There is also a silent auction and $5 helium balloons that correspond to donated prizes. These events have raised between $6,000 and $10,000 each year for the last five years.

The proceeds from Karl’s Kids have helped many children participate in sports in Lincoln County.  Some have needed baseball gloves, or sneakers, a cheerleading outfit, or a basketball. One request was for horseback riding lessons for an autistic child. And some requests are larger. Recently, Karl’s Kids bought 175 bike helmets for children participating in the Great Salt Bay Bike Rodeo – for safely riding at the rodeo and afterward in their neighborhoods.

To print a grant application, a parent, coach, teacher, mentor or friend may simply go online to: www.damariscotta-newcastlerotary.org and click on Karl’s Kids. All information is kept strictly confidential. Those who wish to make a contribution to Karl’s Kids may send a donation to Karl’s Kids, c/o Damariscotta-Newcastle Rotary Club, P.O. Box 363, Waldoboro, ME 04572.

Karl Berger wanted children to be able to participate in sports. Now, thanks to Karl’s Kids, and Mary, many more children in Lincoln County have that opportunity.

Total Hours Reported: 20,164.35

20+ Hours
Mary Andrews
Lynn DeGrenier
Elaine DuBois
Jane Fairchild
Oscar Feagin
Roberta Goodell
Jim Goodson
Harold F. Goodwin
Sherry Miller Welch
Jim Nichols
Priscilla Payne
Ingrid Perry
Gail J. Peters
Sharon Phelan
Nancy Prince
Norma Simpson

50+ Hours
Candace Austin
Stephanie Emens
Kate Harris
Dorothy Havey
Ardis Mayo-McNeil
Judy Merck
Peter Reilly

100+ Hours
Billy Brown, Sr.
Steve Demaio
Dick DuBois
Leslie Gilliland
William Gilliland
Nancy Hoffman
Sandra Hopkins
David Howe
William McPeck
Mary Neal
Jim Pierce
Marianne Reynolds
Nancy Rosalie
Joan Shapleigh
Toby Simon

200+ Hours
Alice Bolstridge
Linda Bradford
Chris Corbett
Thomas Gruber, Jr.
Julia Emily Hathaway
Beverly Johnson
Sue Kircheis
Eileen Kreutz
Sue Mackey Andrews
Heide Munro
Sandy Olson
Norma Rossel
David Stansfield
Lorraine Taft
Donna Waterman
Randy Wind

500+ Hours
Mary Berger
Hugo Diaz
Frank Ober
Leelaine Picker
Tricia Wurpel

800+ Hours
Ed Anderson
Kerry Corthell
Michael Costello
Debbie Mullen
Don Nodine
Phyllis vonHerrlich

1,000+Hours
Pam Matthews
Dick Matthews
Alice Morgan

It’s winter in Maine. For some, that means hunkering down by the fire. But for others, it means getting outside and enjoying the snow and the crisp, fresh air. ENCorps member, Don Nodine, is one such fellow.

A year-round outdoorsman, Don spends a good deal of his winter on the cross-country trails of Millinocket. Don, and other volunteers with the Northern Timber Cruisers Snowmobile and Cross Country Ski Club, groom and maintain about 20 miles of free cross-country trails in the Millinocket area. Don got involved about 19 years ago, and according to the Katahdin Area Chamber of Commerce website, is considered, “one of the trail systems’ originators, architects, groomers and a die-hard x-c skier.”

One set of free trails is located at the Northern Timber Cruisers’ Clubhouse on the Baxter State Park Road, where light lunches are served on weekends. The cross country trails, groomed with tracks for traditional skiing, are maintained separately from the snowmobile trails.

Skiers may take 3-5 mile loops through the woods, where it’s sheltered from the wind, or extend their trip to about 9 miles across Little Smith Pond to a warming hut on the northern end. This open area offers views of Mt. Katahdin on a clear day, but only after the wet areas are well frozen.

Cross country skiers can find another set of free trails at the Bait Hole Area (named for a small pond baitfish were kept in, isolated from the larger nearby lake by a causeway.) Located on Route 11 South, just three miles out of town, the Bait Hole trails provide good views of Mt Katahdin and can be skied with a minimum of snow cover. The trails are wide, well-groomed, and mostly flat. Skiers and snow-shoers can take the 3 mile Bait Hole Loop or take short cuts or add side loops to reduce or increase the distance from 1-8 miles.

Don spends about 200 hours preparing the trails in the off-season. He utilizes his chain saw to cut up “blow-downs” and removes the debris from the trails. He also requested and received an ENCorps stipend to repair the parking lot. Don spends another 200 hours maintaining the trails during the winter. He uses the Northern Timber Cruisers’ snowmobile with a groomer/track setter after each snow storm of over six inches to groom the trails and he clears any debris he finds.

You can learn more about Millinocket’s free cross country ski trails by logging on to their website at www.katahdinmaine.com. Click Recreational Activities, then click X-Country Skiing. To make a donation, send your check to: Northern Timber Cruisers, P.O. Box 269, Millinocket, ME 04462, Attention “Ski Trails.”

For updated ski conditions on the trails, please call Don Nodine at 207-723-4329. Thank you, Don, for encouraging us to get outside and enjoy our Maine winters!

Blue flag with royal fern, skunk cabbage, pitcher plant and bog rosemary on red peat moss, and bladderwort… just a few of the unique plants you’ll see as you stroll along the .8 mile Orono Bog Boardwalk. On land stretching from the Bangor/Orono town line through to the University of Maine, this handicapped accessible trail was built on a natural bed of peat moss. In fact, the moss is 25 feet deep in some areas of the bog.

Much work has gone into preserving the bog since the National Park Service officially designated it as a national natural landmark in 1974. Although the bog is jointly managed by the University of Maine, the City of Bangor, and the Orono Land Trust, the wooden boardwalk built in 2002 and 2003 was the result of hard work and contributions by the Maine Conservation Corps, a Charleston Correctional Facility crew, and numerous other volunteers.

One active volunteer for the Bog Boardwalk is Encore Leadership Corps’ very own LYNN DEGRENIER. Lynn joined the project after attending a presentation by Jim Bird, Director of the Orono Bog Boardwalk, at the ENCorps Bangor regional gathering. Her children were heading off to college and she was looking for ways “to fill the void.” She saw the project as a way to get more involved in her community.

In 2010 she contacted Jim and soon became a central agent to the annual yard sale to raise money to maintain the Boardwalk. Nearly half the costs of maintaining the Boardwalk are covered by this fundraising event alone. For Lynn, one of the most rewarding aspects of working on the yard sale is witnessing the Boardwalk’s ability to be largely financially self-sustainable.

“It’s amazing to see how successful the one event proves to be each year,” she says. The event has become ingrained in the community and does not rely on solicitation. Lynn takes great pride in the ability of the event to be maintained year to year in “polite fashion. Nobody is bothered or guilted into making donations.”

Prior to her work with the Orono Bog Boardwalk, Lynn was an active leader in the Safe Medicine Disposal for ME program through her participation in the UMaine Center on Aging Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP). Through her connection with Safe Med and RSVP, she began leading presentations on a regular basis and came to enjoy the bonds she made with people she met and it was there that she learned about Encore Leadership Corps. “I love the free workshops,” she says, “staying connected with other volunteers, and finding new ways to get involved.”

According to Lynn, the most empowering part of coordinating the yard sale each year is the social network she’s created with others in her community. She has also been able to use her connections to gain media coverage of the event. She reflected on how small the world can be when she spoke of seeing her son’s name along the Boardwalk as a volunteer many years ago.

“It makes you feel like you’re contributing,” she says, “like you’re getting more than you give.”

The boardwalk is open May 1- late November. In addition to the boardwalk, you will find 9.15 additional miles of trails through the Bangor City Forest. For more information and directions to the Orono Bog Boardwalk, visit www.oronobogwalk.org.

If you would like to help maintain the Boardwalk during the 2012 season, contact Phil Locke, Boardwalk Maintenance Leader, at plockebangor@hotmail.com.

The Maine Association of Traids (MATI) has a statewide need for a high-level volunteer to coordinate the work of Maine’s Triads. Maine has many active Triad groups around the state. These groups are working on a local level to reduce victimization of Maine seniors and increase their health and safety. Triads are volunteer organizations made up of local law enforcement, leaders of community based service organizations and seniors. Triads host educational workshops and run initiatives that are designed to create an on-going and trusting relationship between seniors living in the community and law enforcement.

MATI exists to assist with the coordination of effort statewide. We have an very active board of wonderfully dedicated people, but we’re all too busy with our primary responsibilities to do the kinds of tasks that need to be done to grow Maine’s Triad efforts.

So, we’re looking for a volunteer coordinator who can assist with the following tasks:

• Network with active Triad chapters regularly to learn of current projects and needs and report back to the MATI board;
• Create a communication system whereby information can be shared between local Triads and MATI;
• Coordinate the active projects of MATI subcommittees;
• Schedule and attend MATI board meetings;
• Coordinate the distribution of meeting minutes, email updates, and posts to MATI’s facebook page and/or website.

Other requirements/benefits:

• Expected time commitment: 5-10 hours per week (or more);
• Some travel to attend Triad chapter and MATI meetings;
• Computer literate; access to internet; AARP will look into providing occasional office space and access to computer, copying, etc., if needed;
• Reimbursement for mileage provided;
• Support from MATI chair and vice chair.

Contact Jessica Maurer if you’re interested or know someone who might be.

Jessica L. Maurer, Esq.
Executive Director
Maine Association of Area Agencies on Aging
Phone: 207-626-0972
Cell: 207-592-9972
jmaurer@spectrumgenerations.org