Heidi’s Hope Serve-a-thon
deemed an ‘amazing’ success
FORT FAIRFIELD, Maine — Nearly 300 Aroostook County students rolled up their sleeves Oct. 18, 2014 and gave back to their communities through the Aroostook Aspirations Initiative’s first-ever Heidi’s Hope Serve-a-thon.
From cleaning the streets in Washburn to documenting graves at an Easton cemetery, middle and high school students put their energy to good use and helped their hometowns with some much-needed work.
Kaley Norsworthy and Olivia Langner, students at Fort Fairfield Middle-High School, volunteered at the Blockhouse Museum where they dusted and organized the artifacts.
“I chose the blockhouse because I was interested in what was inside, as well as helping out the community,” said Norsworthy, a freshman. “I’ve always wanted to come in to see the artifacts; I’ve never been here before. There’s a lot of clothing here from quite a while back; I was very interested in that. I’ve always been fascinated with that stuff like ‘Little House on the Prairie,’ so I would actually quite enjoy going back and living then.”
“For some reason I actually do like cleaning, and I like helping others out, so the Blockhouse Museum seemed like a good place to volunteer,” said Langner, a sixth-grader. “Plus I’ve never been in here before. There’s a lot of neat things like a bobsled, even though I don’t know how they would have ridden it. It doesn’t look like anything we have today.”
Grace Reynolds and her brother, Nate, both freshmen at FFMHS, helped out at the Fort Fairfield Railroad Museum and the McIntosh one-room schoolhouse.
“I saw that the train station needed some work done on it so I wanted to help out,” said Grace. “My mom convinced us to take part in the serve-a-thon, and it’s for a good cause. It’s great to know that a lot of us county kids can get together and help out in our community.”
“The Railroad Museum is a very important artifact in Fort Fairfield and I wanted to volunteer my time here,” Nate said, noting that if he weren’t volunteering he’d “probably be playing video games.”
The Reynolds both said they’ll participate in next year’s event.
“It’s fun, and it’s been a good experience,” said Nate. “We’ll be back next year.”
FFMHS freshman Hunter St. Pierre spent the morning working at The Friend’s Church.
“I chose this project because it has a lot of history to it,” she said, “and I figured I’d come out here and help out. I’ve heard lots of stories about this church and I thought it would be really interesting to come here.
“I mostly worked in the basement. They had really low ceilings, and I took out lots of metal, wood, screens and even doors,” said St. Pierre. “I definitely want to be involved in the serve-a-thon next year. I had lots of fun with my sister and the adults; it was a good time. It’s always good to be part of your community. You’re never too young to give back.”
April Flagg, AAI’s executive director, called the inaugural event “amazing.”
“When you do something for the first time there’s always that worry that, ‘What if we love it, but someone else might not?’ and that just didn’t happen,” she said. “It was very well received, especially by the communities; they were very, very supportive of the event.
“We had more than 50 projects recommended for that day, and although we couldn’t get to all of them because that would have required thousands of kids, the students did actually complete over 30 projects,” said Flagg, noting that the average project took about five hours to complete. “With kids and adult volunteers, about 2,500 hours of community service were recorded that day.”
Eight pilot schools (Easton, Fort Fairfield, Fort Kent, Hodgdon, Houlton, Mars Hill, Washburn and Wisdom, which encompasses St. Agatha/Frenchville) participated in the Heidi’s Hope Serve-a-thon.
“Caribou High School and Presque Isle High School both had small groups, so they participated in a smaller fashion, but the focus was on those eight pilot schools,” said Flagg. “Next year, all 16 county school districts will be invited to join.
“Next year we would like to work more with the classrooms and the kids, and allow them to find projects,” she said. “I think if we gave them some of the steering in that, even more would participate. We had a great turnout this year, but we would love to have thousands of volunteers all over Aroostook County on this one day making a huge difference in communities.”
In addition to being a means for students to give back to their hometowns, Heidi’s Hope Serve-a-thon was also a fundraiser for AAI. Each participating student was asked to raise at least $40. The money raised will go toward the Gauvin County Scholarship Fund, which awards a scholarship to a senior in each of the county’s 16 high schools.
AAI’s goal was $20,000. Thus far, $20,720 has been raised through pledges and donations.
“Part of the idea of having the kids raise money is to give them ownership with the project,” said Flagg. “This is their project and their school benefits from it almost immediately. The money that the schools raise this year will come right back to them in May in the form of a scholarship for one of the Gauvin Scholars in that school.”
While organizers may tweak next year’s event slightly, Flagg said the objective will remain the same.
“We’re going to be in the communities, we’re going to be working with non-profits, we’re going to be finding projects, working with kids and encouraging them to serve,” she said. “That’s the goal of Heidi’s Hope … to raise money for the endowment and to shine a light on our schools and our kids, and to help teach them the value of community service.”
The Heidi’s Hope Serve-a-thon honors Heidi Graham, who was AAI founder Ray Gauvin’s partner in Advantage Payroll Service for 26 years, and helped Gauvin build the business to be the number-one payroll processor in Maine. In addition to her key role building Advantage Payroll alongside Gauvin and her other full-time job as wife and mother, Graham was always willing to help out in any way she could. She volunteered countless hours with schools, church, Girl Scouts, Aroostook Teen Leadership Camp, and other community programs. Graham lost a two-year battle to breast cancer in 2013.
“My mom had always been a selfless leader who volunteered her time because she felt it was the right thing to do, not to get any glory out of it,” said Graham’s son, Dusty. “Because of that, I know she would be overwhelmed and humbled, but she would be very proud to have this honor of so many people being involved with giving back to the community we call our home, and a place she had lived her entire life.
“We hope that next year and years to come, Heidi’s Hope Serve-a-thon will grow to be more known throughout the county with more students and volunteers getting involved. We hope for this, not just because of it being named after our mom, but because she made an impression that we can all live by, and that is making a difference in the community we live in,” said Graham, who spent the day volunteering with the PIHS students who served at the Central Aroostook Humane Society and the homeless shelter.
“We helped clean, walk dogs, and did some painting,” he said. “It was a pleasure to work with these students who volunteered their time to be involved with Heidi’s Hope.
“By making a difference in someone else’s life through community service, there is a sense of pride that can be achieved; to be proud of the work you’ve done, proud of the community you live in, and proud of the connection you have made with the community,” said Graham.
Each Heidi’s Hope Serve-a-thon participant will receive a certificate and will be entered into a drawing for a variety of prizes.
Flagg said the Heidi’s Hope webpage is open through Dec. 31, so people can still donate. Log onto gauvinfund.org and click on the pink Heidi’s Hope tab.
“When someone gives money to Aroostook Aspirations, it stays here. The money is spent here on Aroostook kids and Aroostook colleges,” she said. “A lot of people say, ‘Shop local.’ We need to start giving local, too.”
