Love in Action: Your Community, Your Choice
Let’s continue to weave and nurture the networks that make Maine such a strong place of mutual support!
This month, we’re inviting our volunteer families to choose their own acts of service! We encourage you to select a nonprofit partner your family feels passionate about and get involved in a way that feels meaningful to you.
We can recommend four nonprofit partners we’ve worked with that are leading efforts to support community needs following recent increased U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence in Portland, Maine: Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, Maine Needs, Our Place Portland, and Food For All.
Whether through donating, collecting supplies, volunteering, or following their prompts for creating art, there are many ways to help. You can also gather, organize, and plan your own acts of kindness in your neighborhood… there’s no wrong way to show up during this month of love.!
Nourishing Neighbors with Preble Street
75 Darling Avenue, South Portland
Sunday, March 22
1:00-3:00pm
Capacity: 60 Volunteers, ages 5+
Preble Street currently cooks and distributes 2,800 meals per day and is working toward a goal of 50,000 frozen emergency meals.
During this event onsite at their newly expanded Food Security Hub in South Portland, volunteers will divide into stations to help with all aspects of Preble Street’s operations:
🧑🍳 Help with Kitchen Prep
👝 Stuff brown bag mobile snacks
🥪 Make PB&Js
🥜 Prep bags of Trail Mix
🍪Make sandwich cookies
🧦 Bundle donated socks for distribution
🍲Take a tour of the newly expanded Food Security Hub
BRING YOUR OWN:
• Reusable water bottles for hydration
• Optional donations at check-in from Preble St’s pantry list:
Trail mix ingredients such as M&Ms, chocolate chips, pretzels, and other fun mixings. We have nuts and dried fruits covered!
Pasta, pasta sauce, jams or jellys
Nonprofit Partner: Preble Street
The Heart Show: A Valentine’s Talent Celebration with Our Place
Thursday, April 2
3:30-5:00 PM
Salud Portland, 275 B Marginal Way
Capacity: 30 volunteers
Join us in spreading love and joy at Our Place’s annual “HeArt Show!”
This special event showcases the talents of children and families in the community—and we’re here to help make it shine.
Volunteers will:
🪩 Decorate the space for a warm holiday event
🩰 Set up tables and chairs for an Our Place student dance recital
❤️ Run a Valentine’s Day card-making station
🍽️ Serve a community meal
🍭 Host a treats and sweets station
As you help out, you’ll also get to enjoy the performances and be part of a heartwarming evening of community.
Nonprofit Partner: Our Place
Migration Magic with Maine Big Night
Saturday, April 25
Approximately Dusk - 9:00 pm
Shore Road, Cape Elizabeth
Capacity: 50-70 volunteers; must be age 5+
Join Chickadeeds for an unforgettable evening with Maine Big Night!
This statewide community science project protects frogs, salamanders, and other amphibians during their epic spring migrations. Volunteers will help these tiny creatures safely cross roads while gathering crucial data on their movements. Amphibian road mortality during migration poses a serious risk to our ecosystem, and your participation helps scientists understand patterns and advocate for safer infrastructure.
We’ll learn how to spot and record amphibians, collect valuable data, and help protect them on their journey across busy roads to breeding pools. Expect an evening of wonder as dusk falls and the first amphibians begin their journey!
Bring Your Own:
Waterproof shoes and coats
Flashlight or headlamp
Nonprofit Partner: Maine Big Night
Coastal Cleanup at Willard Beach
Willard Beach, South Portland
Saturday, May 16
10:00—12:00pm
Join us to celebrate ocean preservation and reuse in action at Willard Beach.
Surfrider Foundation’s Maine Chapter will guide participants through trash collection, sorting, weighing, and counting -- our results will be reported in a national database by Surfrider Foundation to support environmental policy decisions!
Let’s see if we can beat the 432 lbs of trash we collected last year!
BRING YOUR OWN:
*Reusable work gloves ~ or borrow ours
*Reusable water bottles
Non-Profit Partner: @surfridermaine
