Expanded Abbe Museum looking for volunteers

loading...

Preparations are under way for the grand opening of the “new” year-round Abbe Museum next month in downtown Bar Harbor.

Sharon Broom, the museum’s development director, said the expansion of the 73-year-old seasonal museum into a year-round facility brings with it a “great need for more volunteers.

“We’re a museum of Native American cultures in Maine,” she explained of the facility, describing it as “wonderful, small, highly respected and nationally known.”

And now that the Abbe is changing in so many ways, “many volunteers are needed to help fill all the positions required to maintain a year-round facility.

“We need people to devote to the ‘quiet season,’ since we’ll be open year-round, and that’s a first for us,” Broom said. “We’re finding ourselves in need of many more people to serve in various capacities. We need help with the administration desk, in our gift shop, with our educational programs, providing assistance in our offices, and docents in the gallery. The variety of the needs that we have for volunteers depends on the skills and the time they have to give to us.

“This is a wonderful time to come on board with the Abbe,” Broom added. “This is a tremendous expansion; an exciting time of growth and change and our being able to offer wonderful volunteer opportunities.”

A recent capital campaign that met its $5.7 million goal through a combination of grants and individual contributions enabled the Abbe to purchase the building that, for nearly a century, served as the Bar Harbor YMCA.

Currently located in Sieur de Monts Springs off the Park Loop Road in Acadia National Park, but not part of the park, the Abbe has been open only through the warmer months, closing in October.

However, at its new site, the Abbe will become a full-time, year-round operation.

“The Abbe purchased it [the former YMCA] a few years ago, and we’ve been doing this wonderful renovation project and added new construction to the building,” Broom said.

The older building has been “beautifully renovated and, with the new wings that increase our space for exhibiting our collections, we are expanding from a 2,000-square-foot building into a 17,000-square-foot one,” she said.

“With that expansion, plus the year-round operation, you can see our need for many, many volunteers.”

According to a recent NEWS article, the mission of the Abbe Museum is exploring 10,000 years of native civilizations in Maine.

At the current location, the museum is able to display only about 1 percent of the 50,000 artifacts in its collection at any one time.

That will change, however, with the new building and with the assistance of many volunteers, who have an opportunity to help preserve the native heritage of this area.

To become an Abbe Museum volunteer, or to learn more about volunteer opportunities, call museum manager Cynthia Crow at 288-3519 or e-mail abbecc@midmaine.com.

The third annual Leo “Jim” Higgins Memorial Golf Classic begins with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 15, at Hermon Meadow Golf Club.

All proceeds from the event go to the Higgins Scholarship, which is given to a deserving student attending John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor.

The cost is $50 per person for the best ball scramble, four-person team event, and each registered player receives a commemorative gift.

The fund-raiser is sponsored by Bangor Federal Credit Union, Eastern Maine Medical Center Federal Credit Union, Innovative Fitness, Kariya Connection, Dunkin’ Donuts, Atlantic Awards Inc. and W.S. Emerson Co.

Prizes will be awarded in an open and women’s division, and for longest drive and closest to the pin on the par-3 holes.

Pizza and Pepsi will be available throughout the day and a barbecue follows play. You can participate in a 50/50 raffle and take chances on other donated raffle items.

The registration deadline is Saturday, Sept. 8.

For information, or to register, call Scott Clark after 4 p.m. at 945-5535 or Tom Starno after 6 p.m. at 945-2955.

Spruce Run Association is the domestic violence project serving Penobscot County.

It is seeking volunteers to help with its hotline and to serve as children’s workers.

Hotline workers are trained to support and validate callers’ feeling, help callers explore options, provide them information, and support and validate their right to live free from violence.

With no prior experience required, hotline volunteers work from their homes at night and on the weekend, or from the Spruce Run Resource Center during the day.

Children’s workers support children affected by domestic violence by assisting with children’s groups and working with children in the shelter.

Hotline training begins the middle of September, and children’s worker training in early October.

Work study and continuing education units for these volunteer opportunities are available.

If you are interested in working for peace at home, call 945-5102.

The gathering of the Hannan, Hannon, Boynton and Morse descendents sounds like quite an event.

A potluck lunch beginning around noon Sunday, Aug. 19, at the home of Bob and Isabel Morse Maresh at 169 Howard Road in Belmont provides the opportunity for people to learn about not only genealogy but also the history of the communities of Belmont and Montville, as well as other Waldo County towns.

The Mareshes hope all their “family” will be there, and promise lots of fun, and a gathering in the barn in case of rain. You are asked to bring something for the potluck table, your own chair and any memorabilia relating to family or community.

If you haven’t heard about this event previously, and one of these names belonged to one of your ancestors, the Mareshes and everyone else there would be delighted to meet you.

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; 990-8288.