In Houlton, during the Thanksgiving holiday, volunteers from the Retired & Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) gave their time and energy to staff the booth at the annual Houlton Craft Fair at the Recreation Center, helping to raise funds through our Warm Hands and Feet Initiative.
Members of RSVP from Caribou where major contributors like Winnie Theriault, Lucy Shrout, Minnie Butler, Lucille Violette and Dorothy Anderson create mittens, socks, hats and scarves throughout the year with yarn donated to the program help us build our inventory for three Regional Craft Fairs that end the year.
Our volunteers in Fort Fairfield, Mapleton, Presque Isle and Washburn, like Rolinda Fowler, Patsy Delong, Anita Cote, Yvonne McEachern, Carolyn Turner and Luella White keep the knit goods coming all year long.
Travel down through Mars Hill, Monticello and Littleton where volunteers like Jacqueline Nadeau, Barbara Watson and Joella Burke keep knitting all through the summer months with enthusiasm and creativity.
If you follow through to Houlton, Oakfield, Sherman, Smyrna Mills, and Island Falls you will find knitters like Bernice Campbell, Jeanne Clements, Mary Lawler, Ursula Levesque and Wannetta Townsend, creating knit fashions for youngsters and teens alike.
Volunteers like Jeanne Clements were on hand to sell these knitted goods and spent time both days, chatting with folks and with prospective buyers. Bonnibelle Pratt and Sharon Anderson were there a good part of the first day and helped to reorganize all the knit goods at the end of the day. Don and Charlotte Marley took some great photos of our lap blankets and other knitted items on Saturday while “manning the booth” and Alberta McDonald and Shirley Drew put in a big push at the end of the day!
These volunteers say they get great satisfaction from helping others and I know that they are a lifeline for the RSVP Warm Hands and Feet Initiative. Many volunteers were able to meet our new administrative assistant, Marge Yeager, at the Craft Fair when she stepped up to help with the packing up and transportation of the knit goods.
After the craft fair season, donations of mittens, hats, scarves and socks are made to area schools, local Chambers of Commerce and to ACAP for the benefit of our County children. Lap robes are distributed to area nursing homes and the VA hospital. Baby hats and layette sets are donated to the local hospitals’ NICU’s with a different hospital benefitting each year.
RSVP volunteers are a mainstay of several other important programs that help others, especially the elderly, such as the Friendly Visitor and Medical Transportation programs. They contribute in other ways on a daily or weekly basis when they take Meals on Wheels to the homebound seniors in the region or staff a Meal Site where there are weekly or daily hot meals. They serve in thrift shops, historical museums, and food pantries throughout The County from Fort Kent to Island Falls and surrounding areas. Volunteers help to keep the spirits high of those they encounter and are often an emotional lifeline for those they serve.
RSVP, open to anyone age 55 or older, is sponsored by the Aroostook Agency on Aging and the Corporation for National and Community Service, with local sponsors and funding through the United Way of Aroostook; with County businesses, organizations and individuals being important sources of local support working with RSVP to address vital community needs.
For more information call 1-800-439-1789 or 764-3396.
