Friends of Wiscasset: New name, new goals

Mon, 03/28/2022 - 1:30pm

    Friends of Wiscasset revised the group’s name on March 25, dropping Village. The group also adopted a new, broader mission statement, with the aim to “help Friends … serve in a positive way for various needs and potential projects in Wiscasset as times and issues change,” according to the post-meeting email written by Will Truesdell.

    Friday’s meeting was dedicated to adopting the proposed mission statement and goals. “This is the kitchen sink mission,” said Terry Heller. “So the good news is that we can do anything with this mission.”

    Eric McIntyre, a newcomer to the group and owner of Village Handcraft Shop on Water Street, raised concerns about the mission statement being too broad. “In past organizations that I’ve been a part of, one function of the mission statement was to help make decisions of what the group does,” he said. “I’m not sure if we could use (this mission) to make decisions of what we don’t do.”

    Others argued that a broad mission allows flexibility. Chris Erickson said if the mission statement was too narrow, the group would have to continue to reevaluate and change the mission. Meanwhile, the “goals should be consistent with what the stakeholders want at that time, and we help market those things and do the implementation through the strategies listed.”

    The group also discussed the proposed goals, which they defined as “categories for specific projects.” While the original three goals focused on tangible actions, some people wanted an additional goal to capture the spirit of the group. “We’re the never-ending welcome wagon,” said Lucia Droby. “One of the things I like so much about the Friends (is that) the membership is an amazing human resource for volunteers.” They settled on “generate and foster goodwill, togetherness and volunteerism.”

    Also March 25, Peter Wells noted the cemetery fence project will be going up for bid the week of March 28.

    Friends meet next on April 22, when plans call for picking new leadership.