Category: Volunteer Stories

Debbie Kipp By Ann Cox Halkett For a week each year before, during and after the Common Ground Fair, Debbie Kipp volunteers in the Fair office and does “anything that the office needs done.” That usually includes answering the phone, handing out passes, and running errands. “I just do anything … talk to vendors, take

Eric Rector. English photo. “Every job I’m in, I end up doing the computers,” says Eric Rector, creator of MOFGA’s website (www.mofga.org). That’s what I’m good at.” Eric designed MOFGA’s site last year when the proposed USDA rules for organic labeling were up for public comment, and he wanted the talks MOFGA sponsored on the

Matthew Dubois volunteers in the Exhibition Hall at the Common Ground Country Fair. English photo. Matthew Dubois By Holli Cederholm Each year thousands of people crowd into the Exhibition Hall at the Common Ground Country Fair to behold hundreds of varieties of vegetables and fruits, as well as other products and crafts, displayed in true

Peggy Smith Peggy Smith’s Nonviolent Communication Workshops Benefit MOFGA By Holli Cederholm Peggy Smith of Lincolnville, Maine, is a Nonviolent Communication (NVC) Trainer who strives to help individuals, businesses and communities in Maine via the services of her business, Open Communication. Smith offers workshops, presentations, coaching and consulting and finds that her work leaves her

Scott Howell Scott Howell: A Hardworking Individual By Marada Cook “I was working in a co-op grocery store,” begins Scott Howell, “when I suddenly realized that someone was growing all the great produce in front of me. Since then I’ve been trying to figure out how.” That curiosity set Scott on a path that would

Tristan Plumb Tristan Plumb By Holli Cederholm Tristan Plumb forgets when he started volunteering with MOFGA – perhaps because he has attended the Fair every year of his life, making the 2010 Fair his 22nd. “I have been around during the Fair forever,” says Plumb, whose father, Steve Plumb, has long helped with utilities work

Peter Hagerty. English photo. By Holli Cederholm Twelve years ago Peter Hagerty, of Porter, Maine, helped found MOFGA’s Low Impact Forestry (LIF) group, which offers a safe environment for individuals to learn skills pertinent to working in the woods with horses and cattle. The group held its first workshop in November 1999, drawing participants from

Wilma Johnson (left) and Wilma Stewart. Photo by Heather Spalding. The Two Wilmas By Holli Cederholm Each year thousands of T-shirts featuring a graphic of the Fair poster are sold at the Common Ground Country Fair. The shirts usually arrive during the week before the Fair opens to the public – in need of folding.

Betsy Hart. English photo. By Marada Cook “Betsy Hart wears many hats,” says Heather Spalding, Director of the Common Ground Country Fair. “She is chair of the Fair Steering Committee, and she was one of the original coordinators of the Social and Political Action Areas. This year she sold tickets and worked in the Children’s

Leslie Poole Maine’s Own Erin Brokovitch By Marada Cook For Leslie Poole, being a good grandmother goes beyond making cookies and chicken soup for an ailing granddaughter. In 1999, when the spraying of neighboring blueberry barrens either led to or worsened 15-year-old Codey Brown’s chemical sensitivity, her family (including Grandma) began a two-year process with