Bangor YMCA, YWCA to merge officially

While many of us thought the Bangor Y was already and officially one organization and that the YMCA and YWCA serving Greater Bangor had already merged, that isn’t quite true, Bangor Y Chief Executive Officer Rob Reeves told us during a meeting this week at the Bangor Daily News.

That is why it is now time to offer “best wishes and congratulations” to those two pillars of the community who are expected to become one legally by Saturday, Nov. 1.

Members of the YMCA and YWCA were mailed letters this week by their respective boards informing them of the end result of four years of joint effort to make this partnership a reality. I am sure those letters will be well received.

In truth, as Reeves pointed out, the organizations have worked together for years, especially since nonprofit child care came upon the local scene and the Ys began sharing bus service to bring youngsters to their respective after-school programs.

As a former member of both the YMCA and YWCA boards, I believe we should take great pride in this merger (or “marriage,” as the Bangor Y calls it) of two of our most historic and essential community organizations.

And, too, we should add a “Well Done” and a “Tip of the Bangor Y Cap” to the staff, board members and volunteers who are setting an example for the rest of us by leading the way in defining one of the most essential elements of community: Cooperation.

After that meeting with Rob Reeves, we received more information about the multitude of services provided by the Bangor Y, such as the fact that 2,904 children attended day camps this year and that 708 children attended its Camp Jordan Resident Camp on Branch Lake in Ellsworth.

In addition to those figures, Reeves provided information in which our BDN family can take great pride.

Reeves wrote that “Camp Jordan was named after Robert A. Jordan, who was the General Secretary of the Bangor YMCA from 1886-1922 (36 years), the longest tenured general secretary in our history.

“A general secretary is another name for my job as executive director or CEO,” Reeves said.

Robert Jordan is the maternal great-grandfather of Richard J. Warren, our publisher.

In reading the BDN story about Camp Jordan celebrating its century of service, I learned that Robert Jordan first took boys camping in tents in 1908 in Enfield and that in 1925 the camp was moved to its current location.

I believe any history of Bangor must include the history of family commitment to community, and I offer this simple example to state my case: This year we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Camp Jordan, and the 119th year of the family-owned Bangor Daily News.

Doug Dieckmann, community executive for health initiatives for the American Cancer Society in Houlton, reports the sixth annual Northern Maine Living With Cancer Conference is 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13, in the Edmunds Center of Northern Maine Community College in Presque Isle.

This free program, which features” Tools to Survive and Thrive” as its theme, is for cancer patients, family members, caregivers and health care professionals. Registration is requested by Wednesday, Sept. 3.

Among the presenters will be Kathleen G. Higinbotham of the National Institute of Health, who will discuss “What’s on the Horizon for Cancer Research.”

A cancer survivor, she currently deals with technology transfer at the NIH.

Other presenters will be three-year cancer survivor Dr. Daniel Reinke, a family physician, and Dawn Poitras, who will demonstrate light stretching exercises.

Among the workshops are art as healer, music therapy, food can be good and Reiki-acupuncture.

For more information, to request a brochure, or to register, call the ACS at 800-227-2345.

The Hancock Woman’s Club Lobster Dinner is 5-7 p.m. rain or shine Friday, Sept. 5, at Tidal Falls in Hancock.

HWC president Eunice Phillips reports the new location overlooking the reversing falls will have picnic-table seating in a screened pavilion.

And, Jackie Nicholson wrote, Ways and Means Committee co-chairwomen Fran Trefts and Gertrude Wildes “have held the price to $17, per person, for the meal of lobster, corn-on-the-cob, homemade coleslaw, rolls and cornbread, watermelon, home baked desserts and beverages.”

Proceeds benefit HWC scholarships, its Santa Project and maintenance of its community center for programs and activities of local groups.

For more information, call Phillips at 422-6214.

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