Bailey Islander receives award for volunteerism

A Bailey Island woman who serves the community through initiatives for older adults and leadership in her church received the Brunswick Rotary Club’s Walter H. “Doc” Phillips Memorial Award during a ceremony at the Harpswell Town Office on Nov. 16.

“When you ask Harpswell residents about Gayle Hays and her involvement in the community, what you hear is that Gayle herself is community in Harpswell,” said Claudia Frost, a fellow Bailey Islander and two-time past president of the Brunswick Rotary Club. “She not only seems to know everyone, but is involved in almost everything that happens on the islands. She shapes each organization that she is part of to make them more vital and important.”

The award criteria specify that it should go to “a community member who has demonstrated dedicated involvement in a field of Doc’s interest,” such as conservation, education, science, water quality or volunteerism.

Hays chairs Harpswell Aging at Home’s Health and Wellness Committee and serves on the organization’s Steering Committee. The Health and Wellness Committee has launched new programs under her leadership. These programs include Living Histories, which helps older residents preserve their memories and memorabilia for future generations; Neighbors Connecting, which combats isolation through phone calls from volunteers to older residents; a computer literacy program; and educational programming on community television. She also volunteers with Harpswell Aging at Home’s Meals in a Pinch program, which delivers meals to residents in need every other week.

Hays serves as a board member and financial secretary at Islands Community Church, on Bailey Island.

“Her beautiful soprano voice stands out in the choir, she is co-chair of the Worship Committee, and she frequently comes up with ideas to help the congregation be more inclusive and supportive of everyone who lives in Harpswell,” Frost said.

In addition to its role as a spiritual haven, the church helps people in need buy fuel and groceries, Hays said.

A nurse by training, Hays volunteered to give vaccines at Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick during the COVID-19 pandemic and spearheaded a vaccination drive to reach older adults. For her efforts, United HealthCare honored her as a New England Champion during a June 2022 event at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts. Also during the pandemic, she started a daily women’s walking group.

Hays is also a member of Bailey Island’s Mingo Club and a volunteer with the Harpswell Heritage Land Trust.

“It’s hard to understand how someone who is so low-key can have an impact on so many,” Frost said. “Her initiative, enthusiasm and interest in others shape everything she does, and in so doing, she shapes a better community here in Harpswell.”

Dave Taft, a Harpswell resident and past president of the Rotary Club, presented Hays with a clock inlaid with a plaque commemorating her service.

“I was humbled and honored to receive this award,” Hays said. “As I look around, I see lots of other people who also could be recipients of this award, and it’s with pride that I’ll take this home.”

Phillips moved to Harpswell in 1982. He served on the Harpswell Heritage Land Trust Board of Trustees, founded the Land Trust’s Nature Day Camp, and served on the Harpswell Conservation Commission. He was a Rotarian for more than 40 years. He died Sept. 17, 2019, at the age of 93.

Doc Phillips’ widow, Joan Phillips, attended the award ceremony.

A plaque at the Town Office lists the recipients of the annual award. Hays was the fourth. Prior awardees were Linda Blanton, a former U.S. Army nurse and a volunteer with several organizations, including Harpswell Aging at Home and Harpswell Community School; Mary Ann Nahf, chair of the Harpswell Conservation Commission and Harpswell Resiliency and Sustainability Committee, and Land Trust board member; and Susan and Steve Weems, volunteers in the arts and in the areas of clean energy and economic development, respectively.