BDN Mary-Ellen Adams packages cornbread before a drive-thru bean supper fundraiser on Saturday, April 24, 2021 at First United Methodist Church in Bangor. In the background, Donna Leland and Rachel Wilfon (right) package slices of pie.
For decades, churches in Maine and the Northeast have seen their memberships shrink.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit last year, they worried that without being able to pass collection plates at services, or to hold fundraisers such as suppers and craft fairs, they would be forced to close their doors forever.
Thanks largely to an influx of approximately $20 million in federal loans that hundreds of Maine religious organizations received, and because of reduced operating costs from shutting down buildings and offices, most of Maine’s houses of worship have survived.
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not see the planes. Beta Technologies two prized prototypes take up the center of its bustling headquarters inside a hangar at Burlington International Airport. Around the upper rim of the airy space, employee workstations overlook the lustrous white machines through long walls of glass. During a recent tour, a group of engineers studied aircraft designs on a projection screen in one conference room. Next door, two others played Ping-Pong. The open office layout isn t to imitate Silicon Valley, or even to show off Beta s aircraft, founder and CEO Kyle Clark insisted. He thinks the glass helps get engineers talking to each other, which leads to a better plane. And Clark is obsessed with building a better plane.
It’s all change at the top of the editorial management team at the Echo. As Gordon Sutter, current Group Editor for Bournemouth and Southampton, retires after more than 30 years in the driving seat, a new vanguard of managers step up to enhanced roles with a heavy focus on digital development. The Echo and sister dailies across the south coast are already the number one sites for news with unparalleled scale in audience penetrating more than 80% of households. The pandemic has reinforced every community’s reliance upon minute-by-minute content and cemented trust in our local newsrooms. Diarmuid MacDonagh will take over responsibility for all three Newsquest dailies (Dorset Echo, Bournemouth Echo and Southern Daily Echo) as Regional Group Editor. Diarmuid has been editing the Dorset Echo for 10 years and already has responsibility for Newsquest titles in Cornwall.