Happy Wednesday!
This is the Community Caring Collaborative Weekly Communiqué where we share announcements about trainings, meetings and other events, including announcements from our collaborative partners. Look for links to meeting minutes and agendas in the Meetings section, training registration forms and flyers in the Events section, and job postings and other items of interest in the Announcements section. Subscribe here to get the Communiqué. Make sure to add Community Caring Collaborative to your contacts at claurel@cccmaine.org. Gmail users, check for the Communiqué under the Promotions tab. This mailing goes out every Wednesday, so if you have announcements, please send them to Christine by 5 pm Monday to be included. Thanks!
Photo above: Thinking about volunteering as a mentor? This survey was designed just for you – read more about this in the announcements below.
Announcements
Volunteer Mentor Survey: The CCC is developing a flexible Mentor/Neighbor program for different types of mentor/mentee relationships, ranging from supporting someone in need with a friendly shoulder to more traditional career path mentoring and everything in between. The program designers want to hear from potential volunteer mentors to find out what their style and goal of mentoring might be, what kinds of support would help them feel comfortable committing to this role, and other concerns they might have. To that end the designers have teamed up with students in the Research Methods & Design class of UMM’s Psychology and Community Studies program to create an online survey (here’s the link) that provides opportunities for this very important feedback. Please circulate this link to anyone you know that might be interested in volunteering as a mentor. Paper copies are also available – contact Charley Martin-Berry at cmartinberry@cccmaine.org or Jen Peters at scec@sunrisecounty.org for access to a printed version. This is a short survey taking just a few minutes to complete – but the deadline to take it is December 5th so please don’t delay. Thanks so much!
Join the Downeast Feast’s Thanksgiving Day Potluck! November 23rd at 5 pm in Kilburn Commons at UMM – bring your family & friends for a Thanksgiving Community Potluck – read more about this and other Downeast Feasts in the EventSection below.
Free Memory Screenings: Read more about this important free and confidential service on December 6th at the Maine Veterans’ Home in Machias in the Event section below.
Fedcap Open House: You are invited to the Open House & Ribbon Cutting Ceremony of Fedcap’s new Machias office on December 7th – read more about this in the Event Section below.
Save the Dates: Business owners and HR personnel will want to save these dates for 2 important events hosted by Sunrise County Economic Council:
- December 12th – What Employers Need to Know: Addiction 101
- December 19th – Establishing a Drug-Free Workplace and Drug Testing Policies in Maine
Read more about these educational events in the Event Section below.
Basic Skills for Caregivers: The Washington County Thriving in Place Initiative is developing a training in response to requests for help with basic caregiving skills, such as how to move an injured or frail person. Pamela Grant, a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) who works at Down East Community Hospital, has agreed to present this training and is willing to design the content around topics of particular concern to family/informal caregivers. The CCC has developed a short survey for caregivers to provide information to Pam on what they really need to learn. The survey also asks caregivers what time of day or day of the week such a training would work best. Please forward this survey link to anyone you know who is providing care to a family member or friend.
Your announcement could go here: email the details to Christine by 5 pm Monday for inclusion in Wednesday’s Weekly Communiqué.
Updates
This is where we post updates on programs, initiatives and pending legislation.
MRBN/Bingham Conference: Despite power outages statewide due to high winds and torrential rain, the 2nd annual Maine Resilience Building Network/Bingham Conference proved its own resiliency by running without a hitch on November 2nd & 
3rd, drawing over 200 people to its beautiful Point Lookout location for a flawless series of presentations, panels and exhibits.
Julie Redding, CCC’s Clinical Director and Early Childhood Consultation & Outreach Coordinator, presented on the CCC’s Hope Fund and ECCO programs
Events
Now listed chronologically, so make sure to scroll down for items just added!.
Housing as C
ommunity Development: Join speakers Deb Keller, Executive Director of the Bath Housing Authority, Rebecca Dillon from Gawron Turgeon Architects, and Reverend Fowler, Executive Director of Cass Community Services in Detroit for this rescheduled webinar on November 17th from 12 pm to 1:30 pm. Register here.
Join the Downeast Feast’s Thanksgiving Day Potluck! November 23rd at 5 pm in Kilburn Commons at UMM – bring your family & friends for a Thanksgiving Community Potluck. Download and share this flyer. The Downeast Feast is a shared, free, community meal on the fourth Thursday of every month at 5pm. The location varies. Downeast Feasts are potluck-style meals, so bring some food to share. If you can’t bring any, please come anyway! Also, if possible help us decrease waste by bringing your own place settings and a container to take home some food. If you can’t, no worries. We got you covered! Got Questions? Want to Host a Meal? Contact Susie Maxwell at 263 6599 sjbmaxwell@gmail.com.
TSLCA Summit: registration for the Tri-State Learning Collaborative on Aging Summit – Driving Community Home! closes on November 20th, so don’t delay. The Summit will be held on November 28, 2017 at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland, Maine from 9:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. and is designed specifically for community and municipal leaders, service and health providers, advocates and researchers who are engaged (or plan to be) in the “aging in community” movement in Northern New England.
TCM & BHH Provider Training: Child Behavioral Health Services invites targeted case managers and behavioral health homes providers to a free system overview of the state’s behavioral health services on December 4th, from 9-4 at the Houlton DHHS Office. See flyer for details.
Free Memory Screenings: the Maine Veterans’ Home in Machias is hosting free, confidential memory screenings to the public on December 6, 2017, as part of the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America’s National Memory Screening Program. Screenings are 10 minutes by appointment from 8 am to 4:30 pm. Read the invitation and flyer for details and how to make an appointment.
Fedcap Open House: you are invited to the Open House & Ribbon Cutting ceremony of Fedcap’s new Machias office at 89 Court Street (inside the Post Office Building) on December 7th from 3-6 pm. See flyer for details.
Addiction 101 for Businesses: Following up on requests made at the Summer Addiction, Recovery & the Work Force Summit, Sunrise County Economic Council is hosting an important training for business owners and HR personnel on December 12th from 9 am to Noon at their offices at 7 Ames Way in Machias, What Employers Need to Know: Addiction 101. This training presented by Marjorie F. Withers, LCPC, will lay the foundation for understanding substances and their impact on employees. Please save this date – registration opening soon.
Drug-Free Workplace Discussion: Also following up on requests made at the Summer Addiction, Recovery & the Work Force Summit, Sunrise County Economic Council is hosting a free event on December 19th from 9 am to Noon at their offices at 7 Ames Way in Machias – Establishing a Drug-Free Workplace and Drug Testing Policies in Maine. The format for this will be a discussion on how to develop these policies, the rules and requirements under Maine law and how the new legalization of Cannabis may affect those policies. Please save this date – registration opening soon.
Needs & Offers
Passages Giving Tree: The Washington County Passages program is collecting gifts for their 14 children to be distributed at their yearly holiday party on December 14. The Giving Tree – location of this celebration – will be in the Merrill Library at UMM. Each card on the tree notes the age and gender of one of our student’s children. If you’d like to donate a gift, please choose a card and drop off the wrapped, labeled gift by Monday, December 11th. Please keep the gift to a maximum of $20. Thanks in advance for your generosity! For more information, contact Fern at 542-8144 or 255-1468. The Giving Tree is Sponsored by Psychology & Community Studies and Merrill Library at UMM.
Did you lose any of your food due to a power outage? If you get SNAP and lost food because you lost power,
there’s help available. You can get replacement Food Supplement benefits if you have a “household misfortune.” A federal or state disaster declaration is not required. Household misfortune includes losing food from your home if: a local or neighborhood power outage lasts 4 hours or more, or a fire, flood, or storm causes damage. Report the loss of food to DHHS at 1-855-797-4357 within 10 days of the end of the outage. You will be sent a form to fill out and return to DHHS. The sooner you get DHHS this form, the faster you will get your replacement benefits.
Needle Exchange in Machias: The Health Equity Alliance (HEAL), formerly Down East AIDS Network (DEAN), maintains a needle exchange at their local office on Tuesdays 3-6 and Fridays 10-1. HEAL also provides training along with naloxone and sponsors the annual Maine Harm Reduction conference. FMI: Katie Bragg, Case Manager/ Health Promotion Specialist, katie@mainehealthequity.org, 255-5849, 7 VIP Road, Machias, ME 04654, in the same building as Downeast Community Partners, or visit their website.
Legislation Survey: Maine Equal Justice Partners invites you to fill out a policy 
survey to help them assess how effective the legislative changes that did pass will be when it comes to reducing child poverty in Maine and to help them focus their energy in the years ahead on changes that will make the biggest difference in families’ lives.
Send us your agency/community needs or offers, such as job recruiting or housing needs.
Favorite Resources
Send us your favorite links to share with other Communique readers.
Meetings
Work Group & Poverty Busters: Next meeting is on December 6th from 1 — 3:30 in the large conference room at SCEC – RSVP to Christine if you plan to attend.
St Croix Community Connections: This is Poverty Buster’s sister group in Calais, organized by Christine Morris. This group meets monthly – new members welcome!
