There’s a new women’s movement in Harpswell that is raising a new kind of consciousness. If the 1970s movement was about breaking boundaries, Harpswell’s 2020s version is about binding the community together. GALA — Girls, Active, Laughing, Altogether — is Harpswell Aging at Home’s newest program. It’s gathering a growing number of enthusiastic followers to events that stimulate the mind, build camaraderie and make neighborly connections.
The mission of the first gathering, at the Town Office in November, was to solicit ideas, “just to see if it would be viable — something Harpswell could support,” said GALA organizer Christine Roy. “The 35 or so women who attended offered enough ideas for two years — preventing loneliness, reading, knitting, speakers, walks, lunches, to name a few.”
December’s holiday tea at the Orr’s Island Schoolhouse gathered close to 50 for homemade cookies, a Yankee swap and holiday music.
January’s meeting at the Grange brought a capacity crowd of 80 to hear Dr. Nirav Shah, epidemiologist and director of Maine’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention from 2019-2023. Shah spoke about health and wellness for the attendees’ age group and offered advice on relevant topics.
Roy recalled some of his advice about Googling health questions: “Don’t trust medical information from AI. Don’t just Google what to do for high cholesterol. Go to the Maine CDC; go to the Cleveland Clinic.” It’s up to individuals to stay on top of vaccines, he said, because physicians are busy and pharmacists are now administering most shots.
“One thing Dr. Shah emphasized was the importance of being socially active, e.g., participate in HAH events, pick up the phone to call a neighbor, ensure they are OK, see if they need anything,” Roy said. She said Shah’s manner was reassuring and his talk to the packed house was well received.
The event was free. There was also a soup drive, with donations going to food pantries.
Roy said she was prompted to start the group after an encounter at another Harpswell Aging at Home event.
“I was at Lunch with Friends, sitting behind the bandstand at Mitchell Field,” she said. “I watched a woman walk all the way across the field to where we were. She went on and on about how much she was looking forward to this event and how much it meant to her to be there. She had called People Plus for a ride but was worried about her ride home. I knew she was not the only woman in this situation — needing an opportunity to get out and be with others.”
Roy shared that she and her husband moved to Maine when they retired, and he passed away a few years later.
“I know what it is like to be on your own — especially in winter,” Roy said. “I toyed with the idea for a women’s group for a while. Then, with HAH’s encouragement, I decided to have a meeting to see if there was a need.”
It appears there is.
