Giving Health
Thank you for Giving Health! Through your support, we reached our Giving Health December 2024 fundraising campaign goal.
We are so grateful to each and every one in our community for your involvement and partnership now and throughout the year. Healthy Acadia's health services and programming are made possible by the community. We simply can't do it without you!
If you have yet to give, now is still a great time! Donations are welcome here.
What is Giving Health?
Giving Health is Healthy Acadia’s annual December campaign to raise awareness and build support for healthful resources and programming. We are committed to ensuring that our communities are places where everyone can live healthy and thrive. With your support, we’re able to provide critical health resources for so many individuals and families in our region.
Through Giving Health, we raise critical dollars needed to continue our work in ensuring children grow up strong, families have access to nutritious food and safe housing, and people have support for their recovery from substance use disorders. Together, we can foster positive social connections and lift our neighbors out of poverty. Together, we are making health happen!
Over the last few years, our Giving Health campaign has grown and has brought our community together. Through monetary donations of all sizes, items donated through our wish list, volunteer signups, partnerships, and even through community members spreading the word about our work and fundraising efforts we have been able to raise the needed funds to support important programming and resources.
Giving Health supports individuals and communities to thrive. We come together again this year and we are grateful for all the ways you are Giving Health.
Whether it’s a monetary donation, an in-kind gift, or simply spreading the word about Healthy Acadia, your generosity will make a lasting impact. Let’s work together to give the gift of health and build a brighter, healthier future for everyone. Every contribution counts in making health happen!
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Giving Health: Stories that Inspire
Recovery Supports for Women and Children
Since opening in 2020, Safe Harbor Recovery Home for Women and Children in Machias has served 46 women and 43 children. We are thankful that when our community in Washington County saw the need, we collectively were able to come together with our partners at Downeast Community Partners, Community Caring Collaborative, and AMHC (Aroostook Mental Health Services, Inc.), and also supported in part by MaineHousing to address these critical needs. Together we made health happen. Safe Harbor still has needs and with your help, we can continue to serve women and their children as they build healthy lives.
Since opening in 2020, Safe Harbor Recovery Home for Women and Children in Machias has supported 46 women and 43 children on their journey to recovery and wellness. We are deeply grateful for the way our Washington County community rallied to meet this urgent need, partnering with Downeast Community Partners, Community Caring Collaborative, and AMHC (Aroostook Mental Health Services, Inc.), and also supported in part by MaineHousing. Together, we make health happen. However, the work isn’t over—Safe Harbor continues to have ongoing needs. With your support, we can keep empowering women and their children as they build healthy, stable, and substance-free lives.
Healthy Youth Opportunities
“I’ve learned to not let anyone walk over you in a relationship. I’ve learned not to do drugs. I’ve learned a lot about setting boundaries, and we need those boundaries.”
Our youth are the future! To date, more than 3,000 young people have benefited from a wide range of programs, including those we offer directly, such as Down East Teen Leadership Camp (DETLC), and those we’ve supported through grant funding, like the Downeast Rainbow Alliance . This coalition of young adults, healthcare workers, educators, organizers, LGBTQ+ community members, and allies is dedicated to providing advocacy, education, and support for the LGBTQ2IA+ community in Washington County. These are just two of the many impactful initiatives we’re proud to support, and we’ve witnessed firsthand how these programs are transforming young lives.
Workforce Development
Creating a nurturing environment for personal and professional growth is key to overall health and well-being. In recent years we have expanded our engagement in workforce development, including through supporting Extended Learning Opportunities for youth that boost youth employment and career exploration programs, and through our role as Eastern Maine’s Area Health Education Center (AHEC). Our AHEC work brings students enrolled in medical and other health field studies to Downeast Maine to experience health care in rural community settings, and supports continuing education opportunities for current professionals. The goal is to build the rural healthcare workforce, which we know is so important for all of us, including our older adult populations. This is another way we Give Health and work to make our community stronger, and it’s done in partnership with many employers and other partners.
Juneteenth Downeast
For the past four years, Healthy Acadia has proudly served as a fiscal sponsor and key partner for Juneteenth Downeast, a collaborative initiative uniting numerous community organizations, businesses, and individuals. Our partners include the MDI Racial Equity Working Group, Greater Bangor Area Branch NAACP, YWCA MDI, Downeast Diversity, The Exercise Design Lab, Black Spirit 4 Life, Mano en Mano | Hand in Hand, The Jackson Laboratory, and Friends of Acadia.
This dynamic collaboration, led by the vision and leadership of Black and people of color within the group, has successfully organized the Juneteenth Downeast Commemoration and Weekend on the Water—annual events that continue to grow in attendance each year. Together, we are expanding to offer year-round events that bring together Black, people of color, and blended families, while also creating educational opportunities that help rebuild connections to the land and to each other. The profound impact of this work continues to inspire us, and we are grateful for the opportunity to be a part. None of this would be achievable without the vital support of the community.
Downeast Restorative Harvest
As 2024 comes to a close, we’re excited to celebrate the success of our first productive season at the Downeast Restorative Harvest Garden! This innovative community garden in Machias has been made possible through the incredible collaboration of the Washington County Jail, Maine Department of Corrections, local partners, and supporters like you.
The garden brings together jail residents, individuals from the recovery community, agriculture educators, and community members to grow fresh, healthy food for both the jail’s kitchen and local food assistance programs. This effort is about more than just food—it’s about building job skills, fostering whole health, and reducing recidivism among participating residents.
We owe a huge thank you to the many dedicated volunteers who made this season such a success. We’re deeply grateful for the hard work and heart that went into this project, and we’re already looking forward to what we can achieve in 2025. Together, we’re not just growing food; we’re growing health!
Overnight Warming Center
“When I started coming here I was not even thinking about recovery, I just wanted a warm place to watch TV. But I kept coming and everyone being so non-judgemental and not pushing me into it, made me want to try.”
Last winter, recognizing the crisis as temperatures plummeted and hearing from both Healthy Acadia program participants and partner organizations of a great need to support our unhoused community members, Healthy Acadia opened an Overnight Warming Center for the second consecutive winter. From December 2023 through April 2024, we served 91 unique individuals and hosted a total of 1,277 cumulative bed stays. We collaborated with partners and many community members who gave to make the Center a safe and comfortable space to stay out of the cold throughout Maine’s harsh winter. Thank you to so many for donating meals, personal care items, and funds which made this Warming Center possible. This is just another shining example of how we can Give Health together.
Ways to Get involved
We are often asked by community members, “How can I support Healthy Acadia?” There are many ways you can support Healthy Acadia every day and especially this week during Giving Health. Choose one, or many! - Whatever works best for you. Just know that whatever you decide it will make a difference and it will help Give Health to others!
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