It’s been another wonderful season for us here at The Landing Place filled with on-site activities, off-site field trips, backyard BBQs, and continuous community outreach and collaboration.
Among many highlights this summer, The Landing Place celebrated its five year anniversary on July 5th. What a remarkable journey it has been for us; we hope you continue to know how much we appreciate all of the community support that you’ve so generously provided us over the course of these past five years.
During the summer of 2017 we set out on a very clear path with an ambitious five year goal to envision and develop a place where local youth could have steady access to free food, clothing, basic supplies, and compassionate, nonjudgmental support. We aimed to build collaborative partnerships and establish a vibrant and effective presence in Midcoast Maine (notably Knox, Lincoln, and Waldo counties) to support additional youth in surrounding communities through extensive outreach efforts and client care support services. We dreamed of being able to offer viable youth-focused shelter solutions for young adults and emancipated minors. Essentially, we knew that we wanted to create a place that could provide compassionate, comprehensive, and community-based support to youth living in Midcoast Maine. And now here we are five years later heading into the final season of 2022, having endured a global pandemic and with our sights set on the future, feeling earnestly proud of our accomplishments and eager to pursue continual growth and sustainability for many more years to come.
We simply couldn’t do what we’ve done and what we still aim to do without the extra-ordinary community support that we’ve received and continue to receive from all of you. Truly, the concept for The Landing Place primarily derives from the concept of community.
As we begin to shift gears towards the new 2022/23 school year, we are excited to embark on this next chapter of our journey, and just as we did back in the fall of 2017, we will begin with laying the groundwork for our community food program, which has absolutely thrived these past five years because of your collective involvement.
A new Take Home Supper Calendar and Menu for the 2022/23 School Year, ranging from September 2022 through June 2023, has been created. We plan on preparing our own pantry-inspired suppers on Mondays and Wednesdays as needed, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays we hope to be able to continue our proud tradition of offering additional Take Home Suppers that are prepared for and delivered to The Landing Place by uncommonly generous collection of community members. Review copy of our Donor Food Safety Sheet for recommended best practices regarding food preparation.
If you are interested in signing up for one or multiple meals, please email Dori O’Neal at doneal@thelandingplaceme.org and simply indicate which date(s) you are interested in preparing and donating a meal. Recommended serving portions in brackets beside each supper, and, if possible, it would be super helpful if suppers could arrive pre-packaged in sturdy containers. Imagine a middle-school student trying to walk home or carry a take home supper with them on a bus. But, with that being said, please don’t worry if it is not possible to pre-package food ahead of time. TLP staff can always transfer delivered food into take away containers upon arrival. And if more than one individual or group signs up for the same supper then we will do our best to troubleshoot a Plan B accordingly and communicate updates with you all as swiftly as possible.
