Staff Writer
MARS HILL – Getting Mars Hill kids off the couch and onto the soccer field was the goal of a recent $2,000 grant awarded by the Aroostook County Committee of the Maine Community Foundation.
Contributed photo
THANKS TO A $2,000 GRANT awarded by the Aroostook County Committee of the Maine Community Foundation, SAD 42 in Mars Hill was able to contract this summer with the Healthy Maine Youth Advisory committee to bring a soccer program to the district. According to Superintendent Roger Shaw, the camp is about having fun and getting active. Approximately 60 kids in the Mars Hill community took part in the program.
According to SAD 42 Superintendent Roger Shaw, the grant was used this summer to contract with the Healthy Maine Youth Advisory committee to bring a soccer program to the district.
“They come in and put on a soccer camp,” said Shaw. “It’s targeted at children who obviously are in need of physical activity; of course all children are today, but there’s a segment of our student population that’s more in need of an introduction to physical activity, and the venue that they use is designed as more of an interest-based camp rather than a skills-based camp.
“They get all of the kids involved and run a morning, afternoon and evening session,” he said. “This year we had approximately 60 kids that were involved in our community.”
This is not the first year the district has received funds to host the soccer program.
“We’ve been doing this for a few years now,” said Shaw. “We apply for it every year, and have been fortunate to receive it. We recognize the need of kids to have a wide range of physical activity attractions available to them.
“This is a program that comes to us from the outside; oftentimes programs that you generate yourself are sort of the ‘same old, same old,’” he said. “The kids react positively to having new faces and new voices involved. Any program that we can get that changes the face of promoting physical activity for kids we strive to do.”
The soccer camp is held at the high school field. A component of the camp is even held at night under the lights.
“The purpose of this program is to promote healthy lifestyles,” said Pam Scheppele, Maine Community Foundation’s regional coordinator for Aroostook County. “The committee was pleased to support a project that has such community support and will benefit the children of Mars Hill and surrounding communities.”
The Aroostook County Fund, the source of this grant, and a fund managed by the Maine Community Foundation, is built through donations from the community. A statewide organization with offices in Ellsworth, Augusta and Portland, the Maine Community Foundation has been partnering donors and non-profits to strengthen Maine communities for 25 years. Aroostook County businesses and individuals established the Aroostook County Fund in 1986 to ensure the county would have local charitable resources to address community issues and challenges. Over the years, the fund has grown to more than $500,000 and the Aroostook County Committee has awarded more than $274,000 in grants.
Anyone wishing to donate to the fund can contact Scheppele at (207) 540-6494 or pscheppele@mainecf.org.
