4 days until Christmas — looks like Santa recruited some extra help…
to eat his snack!

Join Out Maine for a free, professional development training on January 25th from 4 – 7 pm at Washington County Community College. This training is designed for anyone who works with youth. It will provide a foundational understanding for those who are new to working with LGBTQ+ youth, as well as updated and in-depth information for those who are looking for a refresher. During this training participants will review: terminology and pronoun usage; risk and protective factors, supporting transgender and gender-expansive youth, student rights, intervening in harmful behavior, creating inclusive forms, and navigating facility needs. This training is based on our published Best Practices for LGBTQ+ Inclusive Programming.  See flyer. Register here.

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Healthy Acadia is recruiting an AmeriCorps VISTA member for Washington County to increase access to healthy food for people living in Downeast, Maine. This is now a rolling application, based in Machias. VISTA members address food insecurity through partnerships with local farms & food access programs, on-farm gleaning opportunities, community gardens, food drives, fundraisers, volunteer coordination, and more. Learn more here.

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Wayfinder Schools is thrilled to announce their 2nd annual Great Escape Auction, featuring fourteen fabulous Maine escapes. Escape packages include lakeside and oceanside overnights, skiing, golf, kayaking, sailing, museum tours, dinners out, museum passes, live shows, mushroom foraging tours, rock climbing adventures, and even a private plane ride. Washington and Hancock County donors to the Great Escape include Helen’s Restaurant, Flora Funga Farms, Horn Run Brewing, Kendall Farm Cottages & Event Barn, Downeast Scenic Railway and Downeast Windjammer Cruises. Bidding is open until January 1st. All proceeds benefit Wayfinder Schools and Maine youth who need a second chance at high school graduation. For more information visit www.wayfinderschools.org.

Healthy Acadia is excited to offer an opportunity for us to learn together about the challenges of food insecurity at the start of the new year. Let’s gather via Zoom to discuss How the Other Half Eats by Priya Fielding-Singh. Our intent is to meet weekly beginning the week of January 16.  If you are interested in joining us, please help us determine the best days of the week and timing for our group to meet by responding to this very quick two question survey HERE.  Here is a link to the book.  Here is a link to a one hour talk by the author, Priya Fielding-Singh.  We look forward to gathering! We will send out a notice with more details once we have set the day and time.

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More than 53 million Americans identify as family caregivers. That’s more than 1 in 5 adults. In our documentary, “The Love of Care,” WXYZ Detroit spent time with six caregivers in five cities to understand the lengths they go for the ones they love. Watch the documentary here.