Summer Greetings from State Director, Noël Bonam

Warmest greetings to all! It is both a pleasure and an honor to be able to reach out to you as the new State Director of the AARP Maine State Office.

I have spent my career building relationships and forging understanding between people. While it is often stated in popular culture that our power lies in togetherness and collective action, this is the cornerstone upon which I have built my life and all my professional endeavors.

While one person’s strength may be another person’s weakness, together they have the opportunity to form an effective unit to meet challenges and deliver potential solutions. This strategy of mutual inter-connectedness is the one I pose now to meet our present challenges in the state of Maine. Some are thorny and seemingly complex, but as we match each individual’s strengths with each individual’s weaknesses, we create a meaningful bond and a course of action that is sustainable. This way of working together has been the Maine way and Mainers have always risen to overcome great challenges.

In the spirit of rising to great challenges, I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to the winners of this year’s AARP Community Challenge Grants. Eight age-friendly Maine organizations have been awarded these grants for the purpose of making their communities livable for people of all ages and abilities.

AARP Maine is very proud to collaborate with these organizations and to support them in making value-added contributions to their communities that I know will have the power to inspire larger scale change to benefit all, and especially Mainers over 50.

The projects, which are expected to be completed by November 10, 2021, span across the state and demonstrate a commitment to ensuring an age-friendly Maine. To learn more about the individual projects and AARP’s Community Challenge grant program, please click here.

On a personal front, I am excited to meet the new challenges of being AARP Maine’s State Director, and I look forward to connecting with each and every one of the incredible volunteers and partner organizations that make serving Maine’s 50+ community possible.

To learn more about me, please visit here. To learn more about our team and how to reach out to us with any questions you may have, please visit here.

Until our paths cross (virtually or in person), I wish you and your family a happy and healthy summer.

Very best wishes,
Noël