On May 15, about 80 community members participated in an event co-sponsored by the Bethel Area Nonprofit Collaborative (BANC) and the Age-Friendly Community Initiative (AFCI).

Part of BANC’s Community Conversations series and supported by a grant from the Maine Community Foundation, this “Listen to your Elders” event provided an opportunity for people of all ages to share ideas about how to meet the needs of older adults in our community. The AFCI came away with many ideas that we hope to put into play by further engaging interested individuals and organizations.

An event of this size could not possibly have happened without the help of a number of players. In addition to the engaged participants, special thanks go to the Crescent Park School for the use of this wonderful facility, Amy Scott and Cat Ingraham from BANC, and Jean Benedict, our Site Manager extraordinaire. Essential to the day: a large crew of AFCI volunteers including the board of directors – Lucy Abbott, Jane Chandler, Anita Clark, Lise McLain, Bob Oickle, Shirley Powell, and Charlie Reiss – and additional members of the planning team, Nurrie Caviness, Tim LeConey, and Bonnie Pooley.

Thanks for the insight and humor of storytellers Brodie Bernier, a student at the Telstar Freshman Academy; and local citizens Brooks Morton and Ann Nicholson; for the talented facilitators, Brendan Schauffler, Emily Knapp, Elizabeth Hartford, Sarah Carter, Mitzi Sequoia, Kim Sequoia, Courtney Wrigley, Christina Lefebvre, Hollie Legee-Cressman, Ryder Scott, and Kerry Read; and to Tim LeConey, our closing speaker.

And the food! Individual participants who contributed to the potluck, many thanks. Especially generous, area food contributors were the Good Food Store, the Local Hub, The Eddy School, the Telstar Freshman Academy, Anna Sysko and Cafe DiCocoa, and Stony Brook Variety Store. And thanks to Michelle Deiulio, Rodney Kneeland and assistant Nano Zachary for their work managing all the great food.