Council still serving

NAPLES — This year marks the 37th year the Community Resource Council of Naples has been serving the residents of Naples.

The CRC is an Agency of the United Methodist Church and offers several programs to assist the people of our community. These programs are made available through the generous donations from local businesses, civic groups and individuals in our community and our group of dedicated volunteers who help run these programs.

In 2022, the Thanksgiving program provided 33 holiday meals to families to include 108 individuals.

The Christmas 4 kids program provided clothing, toys, coats, hats and mittens to 50 Children and a holiday meal to 20 families.

Other programs provided include: The Naples Food Pantry, open every Tuesday 10 to 11:30 a.m.; the Back Pack program where children get backpacks filled with back to school supplies; and Kids Packs filled with child friendly foods and snacks for children during school breaks.

The CRC of Naples wishes to thank our community for your continued support. Those wanting to support our programs can mail donations to: The Community Resource Council of Naples, PO Box 447, Naples, ME 04055.

grant, the town is wrapping up its comprehensive plan, she said.

“There are so many opportunities and grants that are available. MDOT is finetuning its partnership with communities and putting in sidewalks because of the high rate of fatalities with vehicles and bicycles. It seems to keep climbing. It seems to me that everyone is driving faster and faster,” she said.

For those reasons, Fernandes like the idea of implementing a Complete Streets Policy and providing safer spaces along the roadway for pedestrians and cyclists. Fernandes has always been an outspoken advocate for bringing public transportation to the rural towns such as Casco.

Also, she like the idea of involving younger people in the community. This was on the community action list under Strategy H: Engage Maine People. This includes public awareness campaigns, engaging youth in clean energy education and energy use reduction. Likewise, it’s important to get senior citizens involved, too, Fernandes said, adding that Maine has biggest aging population in the nation.

A lot of information was provided during the CEBE presentation, and Fernandes said she looks forward to reviewing the paperwork and discussing the options with fellow board members next week.

“No one person can do this. We need to hear from more of the townspeople. They were there [at the Jan. 24 meeting]. The ones who were there were quite involved,” she said. “But we need more input.”

Both Selectman Scott Avery and Casco Town Manager Anthony Ward commented that the public engagement was promising. Both said it was too early to narrow down what the first grant might address.

“I was very excited to see the interest from citizens and I am very happy with the knowledge they share and how willing they are to assist us,” Selectman Avery said.

“As far as the first grant, we as a board have not discussed that as of yet, but it will be discussed at a regular board meeting,” he said.

Ward thought CEBE’s presentation had a decent turnout of people who were interested.

“The community supports the town’s efforts with resiliency and understands that multiple options are available to the town,” he said.

“It’s too premature to determine what the grant will be applied towards,” Ward said. “I would be premature to speak before the select board makes a decision on the grant application,”

The Casco selectmen meet Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 6 p.m.