Nov. 23 dinner/auction to benefit the JD Foundation

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer

    GUILFORD — On Saturday, Nov. 23, with the evening beginning at 4:30, the JD Foundation will hold a dinner and auction fundraiser at American Legion Post 109 in downtown Guilford. The JD Foundation is a non-profit organization, based in Abbot, working toward reducing suicide through awareness and education.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom

    JD FOUNDATION DINNER/AUCTION — A Sony camcorder, GPS unit and pair of coverlets from the late 1800s will be among the hundreds of items of available at the JD Foundation dinner/auction on Saturday, Nov. 23. The event starts with the dinner at 4:30 p.m. at American Legion Post 109 in downtown Guilford. The JD Foundation is a non-profit organization working toward reducing suicide through awareness and education.

    JD Foundation Board of Directors President Cheryl Morin said fundraising is needed to carry out the organization’s various programs offered across the state, and the Nov. 23 dinner/auction will be a big event for the JD Foundation.
    The dinner starts at 4:30 p.m. “We wanted it to be a variety, something for everybody,” Morin said about the diverse menu. The dinner, which will be by donation, has a menu including spaghetti with meatballs or vegetable sauce, a chicken broccoli bake, lasagna, beans and hot dogs, rice dish and more.
    “We will have lots of different desserts and breads, and a 50/50 raffle” Morin said.
    At 6:30 p.m. the JD Foundation auction will start. “We have over 200 items,” Morin said. “We try to do things that will help the community, people can come and buy Christmas gifts at the auction.”
    The auction will feature a brand new kayak, a Sony camcorder, two-night stay in Camden with tickets to an event at the Camden Opera House, ski packages, Bangor Waterfront Concert tickets (to a show of the auction winner’s choice for 2014) and many gift certificates from businesses in the area and from around Maine such as those for restaurants, fuel and to a day spa.
    Morin said Dr. Daniel Steinke of Steinke & Caruso Dental Care in Dover-Foxcroft gave a home teeth whitening kit, valued at nearly $250, a photo shoot package worth several hundred dollars will be available to be bid on at the Nov. 23 auction, gift certificates will be auctioned for tattoo sessions as well as for jewelry along with jewelry items including a set of pearls.
    “There’s not much we don’t have, we have tools for men, toys for kids,” Morin said, including some 1950s-era Fisher Price items. She said the auction will also feature a GPS unit, a gift basket for pets, gift basket with movies and accompanying snacks, baskets of tea and others designed for young girls. She said a pair of size 7 UGG shoes will be up for bid.
    “Everybody has been so awesome,” Morin said in thanking all who have donated to the auction. She said Northeast Doran of Skowhegan is “making us a fire ring especially for the JD Foundation.” She added the Nov. 23 auction will include some antiques, a few vintage dolls as well as a few coverlets dating to the late 19th century.
    “Monica Bates, she has done almost all the work for getting the donations,” Morin said. “Without her this wouldn’t have happened, I can’t express my gratitude. Without volunteers you can’t have an organization.”
    Morin said the JD Foundation had a yard sale as its large annual fundraiser but the event became “so big we couldn’t do it anymore.” She said past yard sales and the Nov. 23 dinner/auction will benefit the various JD Foundation programs. These offerings include 90-minute workshops on free suicide prevention trainings, P.S. We Care in which prayer shawls are distributed to those who have lost loved ones to suicide, guest speakers and Connecting with Spirit in which outdoor experiences bring a connection between nature and peace to help ward off depression.
    “We have launched two new programs this year,” Morin said. The first is for high school students and has been developed over the last year and a half, being launched at Massabesic High School in Waterboro in York County. Morin said the program consists of three parts, suicide prevention, anti-bullying and being kind.
    “They not only get the information and the facts, we watch video, we role play,” Morin said with the simulations involving incidents of bullying and suicide. “We also role play so that doesn’t happen,” she said, adding that she knows the methods work in real life.
    The second new program of the JD Foundation is for families of veterans. Soon the first such training session with a staff of 31 from Veterans Affairs will be held through teleconference.
    “This coming year we are really going to target schools to get programs in there,” Morin said. She said before visiting with students, faculty will receive training, modeled through the Maine Suicide Prevention program and with additional components, such as addressing bullying, she added.
    Morin runs the JD Foundation out of her Abbot home, and the foundation has received a building from the Pushaw family to provide extra space. “They can go by every day and feel good about it,” she said with the structure currently in place next to her home on the Main Road.
    “We are redoing the whole thing for a JD Foundation office,” Morin said. She said she hopes to have the donated building in operation in 2014, which will provide space for both an organization office as well as to meet with people.
    “One of the things the JD Foundation does is (Traumatic Incident Reduction) and (Life Stress Reduction) sessions,” Morin said. “This is another tool that can be used,” she added, mentioning that JD Foundation programs can be offered at a sliding scale or for free when applicable.
    For more information on the JD Foundation, contact 876-2295 or thejdfoundation@yahoo.com, or go to www.thejdfoundation.org or find them on Facebook.