Grand opening for new JD Foundation office building Oct. 14

ABBOT — For more than a decade the JD Foundation has been working as an educational tool across Maine in order to bring suicide prevention and bullying rates down through awareness and education. The organization had previously been based out of the 107 Main Road home of JD Foundation founder Cheryl Morin and her husband Vic, but now a converted carriage house on the Morins’ property serves as the organization headquarters.

A grand opening for the new JD Foundation office building will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 14. Sen. Paul Davis, R-Sangerville will read a proclamation, three key to be announced figures will be honored and attendees can enjoy warm cider and donuts donated by Abbot Bakery.

“We have been in the house this whole time,” Cheryl Morin said, since starting the foundation named for her son William Jody Day who she lost to suicide on Nov. 18, 2005. The JD Foundation became a recognized non-profit in 2008.

Morin said space for various support groups, meetings and foundation operations in her home would sometimes be an issue and about three years ago local resident Shawn Pushor approached her about donating the carriage house that had been on his father’s property in Guilford. “They gave it to us, Vic went down and jacked it up so the building could be moved here,” Cheryl Morin said.

She said the carriage house was too tall to fit under some utility wires over the back roads to Abbot, so the top of the structure was removed in order for the carriage house to be transplanted.

“When Vic had the roof ready (John Douglass of R.A. Thomas Logging of Guilford) came down and pulled it off with the logging truck,” Cheryl Morin said. “Dave Littlefield Trucking (of Parkman) came in and had the building put on a flatbed and moved it here.”

“They did all this stuff for nothing,” Morin said in thanking all those involved in getting the future JD Foundation office space to Abbot. “Vic, he’s got over 500 hours in this building,” she added about her husband’s contributions to getting the building ready which included building a pair of steps.

“We had volunteers one day for painting and scraping,” she added, saying four coats of paint transformed the outside from white to red to match her home.

Morin said the office building has new windows and doors, and the JD Foundation has received furniture donations such as chairs. She said a heating system is still a need.

“It’s taken us all this time to get this office done, but honestly there’s not much left,” she said, as operations were moved to inside the building several months ago. Morin said various organization workshops will take place at the office space but will still be held elsewhere when applicable as “we want to keep things as easy for people as we can.”

“We have done workshops from Fort Kent to Kittery, we do travel — we are statewide,” she said.

“We also have new people coming on board,” Morin said mentioning new JD Foundation facilitators and trainers Chelsea Chapdelaine, Adrienne Clarke, Roxanne Easler, Lucy Johnston, Terri Kelley-Palin, Tonya Patten and Jessica Redmond.

Morin said Clarke served for a decade in the U.S. Army. “She is going to head up a veterans support group, we got really lucky to have her come in when she did.”

“For whatever support they need, we are going to find it for them,” Morin said about the expanded work the JD Foundation plans to do for veterans.

For more information on the Oct. 14 grand opening and the JD Foundation, please go to https://www.thejdfoundation.org.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
GRAND OPENING FOR NEW JD FOUNDATION OFFICE BUILDING — A grand opening for the JD Foundation’s new office building will start at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 14 at the Main Road (Route 15) location in Abbot. For more than a decade the JD Foundation has been working as an educational tool to Maine in order to bring suicide prevention and bullying rates down through awareness and education. The Oct. 14 ceremony will include a proclamation read by Sen. Paul Davis, R-Sangerville and surprise recognition of three key individuals.

Photos courtesy of JD Foundation
MOVING THE BUILDING — Several years ago the JD Foundation was gifted a former carriage house in Guilford by Shawn Pushor. Dave Littlefield Trucking of Parkman transported the structure to Abbot to serve as the new home of the organization, which will be celebrated during a grand opening from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 14.

Photos courtesy of JD Foundation
ROOF WORK — A former carriage house given to the JD Foundation was too tall to fit under some utility wires during the journey from Guilford to Abbot, so a truck from R.A. Thomas Logging of Guilford pulled the roof off and then placed it back on after transport.