AMITY MATTERS

Larry wrote a grant for the Accent on Assets Mini Grant from Vital Pathways and we have received $250.00 which was used to secure the services of Salvunus Doughty Architecture out of Portland. Salvunus will be doing a facilities survey for us. This will open the door to more funding from other sources. Mr Doughty's services will not exceed $2,900.00 compared to the $15,000.00 price we had

received from a Bangor firm. It is the committee's plans to apply for a CDBG Public Facilities (Historic Preservation) grant this fall and to apply for funding from private foundations for the 20% matching funds that we will need to go with the CDBG funds.

Ronald and Gwyneth Jensen have purchased land in Amity and intend to come up this fall. WELCOME NEIGHBORS from all of us at Amity Matters and the Reed School Committee.

The Reed School Committee worked very hard to get the school registered on the National Register of Historic Places. The school was placed on the list on November 21, 2001.The school project is moving along great. While it does not look as though anything is happening at the school, there is a lot being done in the background to prepare for seeking out grant funds. We have over $7,000.00 raised toward the project so far.

The Reed School Committee elected Ralph Bickford as the Chairman in the recent election of officers. Our new Chairman has lots of fresh ideas and with Ralph's lively sense of humor, the committee's work will proceed with much laughter.

Georgene Salpietro (previous Chairman) stepped down to Co-Chair to assist Ralph while he learns the ropes. Between Ralph and Georgene, our "work" will be more fun than work.

Larry Hamilton was re-elected to the position of Treasurer. We are getting closer and closer to writing for a grant. Larry is a certified Grant Administrator. He is now well known in Augusta and the results of the last grant he wrote will soon be showing up around Town.

Debby Cone remains as Secretary. She has just finished putting the Reed School Alumni and all the donations that have been made in the last three years on computer. Next, she will be putting all the minutes for the past meetings on her computer.

Sadly, we lost John Pullen in February 2003, his historical knowledge was vast and he was glad to share stories of his time at the Reed School with us.He wrote a book about Joshua Chamberlain and his Civil War experiences.

We are always looking for the names of Reed School Alumni and Alumni from any of the five one-room schoolhouses that once dotted Amity.Please contact Debby.

The Reed School Committee is putting together a muti prize raffle with prizes donated by area businesses. We hope to have the tickets available for sale by July 1 or before. The drawing will take place at Potato Feast days In Houlton in August. WE hope thar this will be a good fundraiser for the school project. After July first you may contact any committee member to get tickets if you wish to buy or sell some tickets for this project.

The Reed School Committeee held a Harvest Supper on Friday November 7, 2003 at the Linneus Sno-Sports Clubhouse in Linneus. This was attended by approximently 100 people and raised over $500.00 for the Reed School Project. A big THANK YOU to County Yankee, Shop N Save, and T&S Market for their generous donations to the supper. Thank you to the Linneus Sno-Sports Club for the use of their beautiful hall and to Jock Gentle for his guidance. To visit the Sno-Sport site click here. Kudos to our Committee Chairman, Ralph Bickford, and his friends for the dinner music they provided. I heard many, many compliments from the diners. Once again the cooks of Amity lived up to their reputation for putting on a fine feed. The Committee members worked hard, but as usual we managed to have a good time doing it. Thank you to everyone for all your help and support.

The Harvest Supper netted the project $571.00

The Rabies Clinic in January netted the project $83.00.

Other events have brought in another $117.24

We know that this has been a long process getting to this point. However, we are now at the point where we can start to seek funding this year and by the spring of 2005 there should be work going on at the school if all goes as planned and we are successful in our grant attempts. The Reed School Committee would like to thank all those who have lended a hand at all the fundraisers that we have held and will be continuing to hold. The amonuts of people who have helped is too long to list but, you all know who you are. "THANK YOU ALL"