Back to Fort Fairfield Journal      WFFJ-TV      Contact Us

 

 

Fields Realty Raises $2,000+ in

Raffle for Support of Science Center

 

By:  David Deschesne

Fort Fairfield Journal, January 2, 2019

 

   The Francis Malcolm Science Center recently received a $2060 donation from Fields Realty as a result of a raffle on a 7x9 portable building.   Stephanie Fields Beaulieu and Brianne Bubar, from Fields Realty held the drawing at the Fort Fairfield Public Library on Saturday, September 22 where the winning ticket drawn was for Amber Oakes.

   Beaulieu said the raffle was a natural progression from an advertising campaign to a fundraising effort,  “I asked the Fort Fairfield High School students to build a 7x9 building so that I could use it for advertising.  7x9 is a pretty good size.  We had it in the Fort Fairfield Potato Blossom Parade.  Halfway through the parade I thought, what am I going to do with this?  An ice shack? A garden shed? A playhouse?  It came to me at that point that Fields Realty would raffle off the building and have the proceeds go to the Science Center.”

   She said education is a very important part of the lives of a community and it should be cultured and nurtured at every possible occasion.  “People can have things taken away.  You can have your house taken away, you can have your vehicle taken away but you can't have your education taken away.  The Science Center is such a valuable, educational tool to have in Aroostook County.  It's a great gem to have.  I would hate to see them not in operation due to funding.  We need leaders in Aroostook County, worldwide, and you need to be educated to be a leader.  We have a fantastic institution that needs funding so Fields Realty wanted to contribute to that.”

   The raffle was advertised on social media and also received a lot of help from Star City IGA in Presque Isle with sales of tickets.  “We had 200 tickets at ten dollars apiece.  We also had people who didn't want tickets but wanted to donate, so the amount we donated today was $2,060.00”

   The $2,060 donation from the Fields Realty raffle was augmented by a matching donation from a grant offered to the Science Center through the end of 2018.  The Science Center's Science and Planetarium Director, Larry Berz explained how an anonymous donor offered the Science Center a matching donation of up to $30,000 to match donations the Science Center receives through December 31 creating a potential $60,000 total effort.  “That doesn't happen all the time so we're really excited that somebody would consider the Science Center an important part of the community's future to be able to step up to the plate, so-to-speak, and challenge this community to make the match and double the potential amount of fund raising on behalf of the center in donations.”

   The Science Center features many community and student activities throughout the year, such as Moonlight Snowshoe hikes, Planetarium shows with a state-of-the-art 3D digital planetarium, Christmas Crafts and biology and wildlife exhibits.  Recently, they had the opportunity to upgrade to a fiber optic internet connection which allows them access to planetarium shows previously inaccessible.   “On a monthly basis, we're going to be seeing the high speed internet streaming in shows that we've never seen before,” said Berz. Themes, topics, information about science and non-science related topics that should hold high interest to this community.”

   Berz says the Science Center also looks forward to bringing in guest speakers.  “In the past we've had birding highlighted, the history of Easton is another topic.  We want you as community members to feel that you take the lead, the initiative.  If there's a gap you see in the Science Center programming, talk to us, give us a call, come and visit us with the family.  Come see why this Science Center is going to be pre-eminent in the lives of the community and the possibility that we're going to be able to grow into new horizons, new frontiers and possibilities.  We have to continue to prove to this entire zone that the forces that unite in our community are deeper than those that divide and that winter doesn't keep us down.  I know that winter here is not a season, but an occupation.  We have to prove that occupation includes support of the Science Center and a lot of fun, too.”

   “Recreationally, educationally, intellectually, the Science Center is going to grow in a place that is going to be permanent and sustainable within the lives of our community.  Don't you want to join in that great, historic effort?  I know I do and I've already seen the growth and momentum moving.  But I can't do it alone.  We need help.  I need you, I need your families, I need your relatives, I need the extended community to come on board the Science Center as never before and to be able to enlarge and expand and grow, develop and augment the kinds of opportunities that are going to make lives for children in this County powerful.”

   “I want to see an empowered community of school children, but I want to go beyond the school child zone.  I want to see every member of this community from nine to ninety finding some purpose in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and the arts.  The Science Center must provide that.  That's why we're here.  I want to keep building, and growing and developing the Science Center menu.  I want to feel we're on top and on the cutting edge of whatever technology is going to be appearing in our community.  I want people to feel like the Science Center is a natural selection for a weekend activity, an evening activity, a daytime/school time activity, a community activity.  We want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem in Aroostook County.

   Information about the Francis Malcolm Science center is available online at

www.francismalcolmscienccenter.com or at their Facebook page.