Tracy Moskovitz and Bambi Jones, a couple from Whitefield, recently returned from a 10-day trip to Cuba. They were joined on the trip by two other couples, one from Chicago and another from Cambridge, Massachusetts. All six have been strong and active supporters of Hidden Valley Nature Center and now of Midcoast Conservancy. Their trip was custom-designed to expose them to the aspects of Cuba that most interested them, including music, politics, environment, land protection, art and farming.

The weather was warm and sunny so they were always clad in T-shirts — mostly T-shirts collected from attending or volunteering at different Hidden Valley Nature Center events. Claude Barton and Nancy Seidman, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, have been regular volunteers at Hidden Valley Nature Center’s Liberal Cup Biathlon. Nancy helps park cars and greets people at the front gate. Claude is always busy helping at the shooting range. Claude says, “The biathlon is one of our favorite annual events. It’s great seeing such a wide range of people out having fun in the snow.”

Claude and Nancy often travel with their Midcoast Conservancy T-shirts because they have fun when people recognize the shirts or ask about them. “We were surprised when we ran into a small group of people at a music event in Trinidad, Cuba who attended the Race Through the Woods at the nature center.” Nancy said “Many people ask about the shirt and it gives us an opportunity to talk about HVNC, Midcoast Conservancy, and land protection. Land trusts, which we take for granted in New England, don’t exist in Cuba. Explaining the concept was not always been easy, especially in Spanish.” Regardless, the power of T-shirt diplomacy was clear to the group as they left the country knowing they had shared some of what they value about Midcoast Maine.