April 2009

By Carol McCracken

Every Sunday morning for the last five years or so, this married couple has been doing their share to alleviate the increasing number of people who are finding it harder and harder to fill their refrigerators with fresh produce and cupboards with fresh bread, because of the poor economy.

The twosome get in their truck early in the morning and drive to a major, local grocery store. There they fill up cardboard boxes with overstocked produce, fruits and bread well before it perishes. The first stop on their route is the West Falmouth Baptist Church. There they wait for consumers to pick what they will need for the upcoming week. A rule of thumb is: “Take What You Need” – there is no restriction. With whatever is left over, the couple moves on to Haven House, Friendship House and local shelters with their food. “People come quite humble. They seem to take only what they really need either for themselves or for a friend,” said the easy going McGarity who is originally from Georgia. He is leaning against a fence at the North Street Community Garden where his attractive wife is asking for advice about the soil mix for their plot.

Six days a week the easy-going and genial Mark works long days at the reknown Broadway Gardens in South Portland. Last year he began to notice an increase in the number of people starting up their own vegetable gardens. This year he has already noticed another big jump in first-time gardners. “People are looking for lots of advice about starting vegetable gardens,” Mark says. Next month they’ll begin asking when they can plant vegetables and tomatoes. One rule of thumb that many people adhere to is not to plant tomato plants until Father’s Day – that’s mid-June, he says. Fortunately, Mark is one of a handful of year-round employees at the super-size nursery which is locally owned.

Meanwhile, Jill is a landscape painter with her own studio on the Hill. As the weather continues to improve, Jill will be opening up her studio to neighbors who want to stop in for a cup of java and a look-around. A very pleasant prospect indeed!

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Anonymously Contributed
Edited by Carol McCracken

that many of the streets on the Hill were named for prominent citizens who played an important role in the history of the Hill? Other streets were named for the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad. As the weather warms up and everyone is outside much more than over the past winter, it might be a good time to take note of these streets and for whom they were named.

Atlantic Street – Named, along with St. Lawrence, for the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad, the Grand Trunk, which left for northern Maine and Canada near the end of the two streets.

Beckett Street – Named for the prominent developer, poet and publisher of city directories, Sylvester B. Beckett.

Emerson Street – Named for Andrew L. Emerson, who in 1832 served as Portland’s first mayor.

Kellogg Street – Originally known as Warren Street after early landowner Thomas Warren, the street is now named in honor of Elijah Kellogg Sr., a pastor of the Second Parish Church.

Lafayette Street – Laid out in 1820 and named in honor of the French hero of the American Revolution, the Marquis de Lafayette, who visited the town in 1825.

Melbourne Street – Named after a town where the Grand Trunk Line stopped on its way to Canada.

Montreal Street – Named for the city on the opposite end of the Grand Trunk Line.

Monument Street – Once called “The Mall,” Monument Street is named for the Portland Monument Association, which built the nearby Portland Observatory.

Mountfort Street – Named for a colonial family whose house was near the Fore Street end of the street. Mountfort was called Battle Street at one time.

Morning Street – The north end of Morning Street, along with Vesper Street, was once the site of a swamp and not developed until the 1880s and 1890s.

North Street – Opened in 1795 as an extension of Mountjoy Street running to Tukey’s Bridge, North Street runs only a few degrees from true north.

O’Brien Street – Named after a city official, the street was named when Beckett Street was divided for the building of Marada Adams School in 1956.

Sheridan Street – Named in honor of Civil War Gen. Philip Sheridan. It was earlier known as Poplar Street.

Washington Avenue – Created in 1796 and named for President George Washington. It was originally planned as a residential drive and lined with trees.

Willis Street – Named for Portland Mayor William Willis. He wrote “The History of Portland” in 1832-33.

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By Carol McCracken

It’s hard to imagine an educational non-profit based on the Hill that serves teenage girls as far away as Africa, but that’s exactly what Advancement Of Girls Education (“AGE”) does. Katie Hatch lives on the Hill and is executive director of AGE. It’s primary constituency is teenage girls in Africa well qualified to receive a good secondary education and are unable to afford one.

Much of Africa has universal primary education education (“UPE”) says Katie. “That’s good as far as it goes,” she says. But when teenagers get to their high school years, there is a charge to go to school. Many students who are well qualilfied to continue on are unable to do so because they can’t afford the cost of an education, uniforms and all that it entails.

AGE was founded last year to “support bright and extremely poor” teenage girls in Malawi who otherwise would not receive an education beyond the eighth grade. Currently AGE supports 17 teenagers there. They attend academically stimulating classes and are given a small amount of pocket money and the opportunity to decide spend how to spend that money. Making those decisions can be an educational experience in and of itself for teenagers who’ve never had spending money. The program has been so successful that by January ’09, the program expects to almost double in enrollment. Malawi is located on Lake Malawi in South Africa. It’s a beautiful area called the “warmheart of Africa” says Katie. By the way, she has traveled to about a dozen countries in Africa out of the hundreds of countries there.

At the same time, AGE manages a home for 20 children who have been orphaned or abandoned in Uganda. It’s called the Malayaka House and is named for the child who was the first abandoned child to occupy this special home. An American, Robert Fleming, who Katie credits with the idea of the House, lives there and is responsible for the physical management of the House. He also coordinates activities with many other orphanages in the area. Another half dozen or so are expected to take up residence at the Malayaka House in the near future.

Back in 2004, Katie negotiated a contract with the United Nations. She became a contract employee for the High Commission on Refugees. The concept of working with a“marginalized population” has always appealed to her, so this was a perfect fit for Katie. She worked in Uganda near Lake Victoria in the educational field. And the rest is laid out above.

Late next month Katie will return to Malawi where she and a team of graduate students from the Fletcher School of International Development at Tufts University. They will begin to develop a new mentoring program for teenage girls at the Providence Girls Secondary School there. She’ll return to the U.S. in late June with a teenager who will be attending Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire on full scholarship for the summer.

Grants and individual donors keep his program financed. AGE also does fund raising events in Washington, D.C., New York and Boston.

Katie plans one day to return to graduate school to get her master’s degree in global public health. She has a degree in American Studies from St. Michael’s College in New Hampshire. “I love my life,” she says. Originally she’s from Windham.

It may be hard to imagine AGE up here so far away from its constituents and it’s likewise hard to imagine anyone better suited and more dedicated than Katie Hatch to direct AGE.

Please visit the web page www.ageafrica.org for more details to see how you can contribute to this non-profit.

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By Carol McCracken

Last year’s marriage of this attractive couple did nothing whatsoever to dampen their adventurous nature. To the contrary, this union may well have given them the impetus they needed to pursue a long time dream of Dan’s. To kayak from the eastern most part of the country – Lubec, Maine to Key West, Florida – the southern most part of the country.

In their mid 20s, Bethany and Dan grew up in North Carolina. Last year Dan’s brother drove them up to Lubec from where they embarked on the first leg of their kayaking trip. It took them 30 days to get to Portland from Lubec. They laid over on Munjoy Hill for the winter. Both got jobs at the Maine Mall working as cashiers. Not too long ago they left their jobs to prepare for the rest of their trip to Key West. On Friday, May 1, the two will board their separate 17 ft. kayaks and leave at 7:30 a.m. from East End Beach on the Hill for the last leg of their dream trip. They expect to arrive in Key West by October.

“It’s like backpacking on the water,” said Bethany. The first part of the trip will be the hardest paddling. They plan on pitching their tent at night on Maine islands until they run out of islands. Ss they paddle south, the paddling gets easier. But they will have to come up with some creative ideas on where to camp at night. Camping spots aren’t as easy to locate down the coast. The couple is impressively equipped with navigational and communication equipment. “I know that my mother is concerned about this trip and so I want to be able to contact her and tell her we are safe,” said Bethany.

Bethany and Don carry with them in their two kayaks equipment related to shelter; a tent, sleeping bags and bags of food. They will also take comfort stuff like cookies, a Bible, two journals and several books to read aloud to each other. That is when time permits. They hope to make about 15 – 20 miles a day at the beginning and then increase their mileage as they get into easier paddling waters. Both look in excellent physical condition, but Dan says: “We were in better shape when we arrived in Portland last fall. The beer, pizza and lobster here are really good!”

It’s also been a cultural exchange program for them. “Life is much harder up here than in Raleigh. There is more leisure time at home. We don’t have the same rough winters. Just scratching ice off the windshield is reason to complain!” Bethany says laughing. By the way, what she missed most of all on the first leg of their trip is running water she repeats several times for emphasis.

Dan was a business major in college and Bethany a wilderness leadership and education college major. The two hope to own their own business someday – perhaps on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. “This trip defines part of our lives and who we are. It’ll be part of us for the rest of our lives. A good foundation for our marriage,” Dan says. Bethany nods in agreement.

Bon Voyage, Always!
Please visit:www. dbkayak.com to learn more of this delightful couple and their ambitious plans.

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