Fifth Annual Senior Day

BELFAST — The Fifth Annual Senior Day takes place 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 12, at the Redman Hall of the Belfast Tarratine Tribe, at the corner of Main Street and Waldo Avenue. This free event, co-sponsored by Waldo County Triad and Spectrum Generations (formerly Senior Spectrum), provides information of interest to senior citizens, a free lunch to all at noon, and two bingo sessions (with prizes). The doors of the air-conditioned hall will open at 8:30 a.m.

Following an early offering of coffee and doughnuts, Owen Smith, director of Waldo County 911 program, will outline the Friendly Caller Program for senior citizens who appreciate making voice contact with others periodically. The morning bingo session will run from 10:15 a.m. to noon, when the Belfast Police Department will begin serving lunch, with live music

At 1 p.m., David White and Gloria Payne will outline the adult protective services available to county seniors. Throughout the day, seniors will have opportunities to examine services provided by Healthy Waldo County, Waldo County Triad, New Hope for Women, Spectrum Generations, the Department of Human Services, diabetic shoes and the Maine Center on Deafness. Bingo resumes at 1:15 p.m. until Senior Day ends at 3 p.m.

Broadreach Receives Grant

Broadreach Family & Community Services has received a grant from the Maine Children’s Trust, the statewide child abuse and neglect prevention organization, to help improve the well-being of children in Midcoast Maine by providing Active Parenting Now classes in the Belfast and Rockland areas. This new curriculum offers 6 two-hour sessions and has been shown to improve parents’ confidence and ability.

The National Register of Evidence-based Programs and Practices describes the program in this way: “Active Parenting Now is a video-based education program targeted to parents of 2- to 12-year-olds who want to improve their parenting skills. It is based on the application of Adlerian parenting theory, which is defined by mutual respect among family members within a democratically run family. The program teaches parents how to raise a child by using encouragement, building the child's self-esteem, and creating a relationship with the child based upon active listening, honest communication, and problem solving. It also teaches parents to use natural and logical consequences to reduce irresponsible and unacceptable behaviors.” 

These parent classes will be open to all parents and child care will be provided during class. A calendar of classes and locations is being developed and more information will be available shortly.

Broadreach provides a variety of services to young parents and their children in Waldo and Knox counties. Broadreach services have been making a critical difference in the lives of area children and families since 1983.  Each year over 2,000 families with children benefit from the agency’s quality education and support programs. Broadreach has over a quarter of century expertise in delivering parenting education, family support, early childhood education and family literacy programming. Other provided parent education options include Kids First, Guiding Good Choices, and the Nurturing Fathers Program.

If you would like to learn how to register for Active Parenting Now, or learn more about our parent education offerings, please call Patrick Walsh at 207-338-2200, Ext 109 or send an e-mail message to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Re-Entry Center Garden Project Benefits Community

SWANVILLE — Participants at the 32-bed Regional Re-entry Center, who are close to their release dates, will be spending two days a week at the Nickerson field on Swan Lake Avenue as part of a county-funded project whose goal is  to grow fresh produce for the center and for the community. In addition to benefiting the facility, the produce will be distributed at local emergency food cupboards and soup kitchens. As part of their transition program, the 18- to 25-year-old inmates will be involved in all stages of the production from weeding to shipping.

County Commissioner Bill Shorey, who is an on-site agricultural advisor, reported in the Republican Journal that there is a mile of food rows that boasts 120 feet of cucumbers, summer, and winter squash, 2,000 feet of corn, 800 feet of beans, 100 feet of tomatoes, 400 feet of potatoes, and 250 feet of beets and carrots.  Broccoli and cabbage are there but only in an amount that will be used at the Re-entry Center.  The growers have not had any difficulty with local wildlife since the acre of field is surrounded by solar-powered deer fence. Shorey hopes to have the garden expanded to include all of the field's five acres over the next couple of years of their five-year lease. Randy Doak, who rototilled the garden area, is also serving as an agricultural advisor to the young men.

Administrators at local food cupboards, agencies, or churches who would like to help distribute the produce from this project, may contact Sheriff Scott Story at 338-2040.

Delmont's Farm Stand Under Way in Brooks

Newforest Institute hosts Delmont's Farm Stand Saturdays and Wednesdays in Brooks, where the nonprofit organization has forged deep, sustainable connections with the land through permaculture principles. The farm stand, which is located on Route 139 in Brooks Village, nearby the intersection of Routes 7 and 139, is open to the public to sell its produce 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays, as well as between 3 and 7 p.m. Wednesdays.

The farm stand also serves as a pick-up station Wednesdays for those purchasing shares in New Forest's Community Support Agriculture (CSA) cooperative.

Since 2007, New Forest Institute has developed a food forest and created open fields and gardens, all designed in the pattern of a nuatural ecosystem. When New Forest purchased the property where the farm stand is located, it was named in honor of local icon Delmont Clark who was the last owner of the property.

For more information about the food stand, visit newforestinstitute.org or call 722-3625.