BY KRISTEN KELLNER, OASIS FREE CLINICS BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The Midcoast is fortunate to have many nonprofits in our community, providing world class music and theater, offering healthy meals, preventing homelessness, and offering free medical and dental care, just to name a few. As a member of the Board of Directors of one of those nonprofits, Oasis Free Clinics, I know how important the work that they do is. I also know that nonprofits want YOU!
Nonprofits need more than what comes to mind when you hear their names. Oasis Free Clinics may conjure up the need for healthcare professionals and while that is an accurate assessment, there is so much more YOU (yes, I mean YOU, the amazing and gifted person reading this article) can do to help support our mission. We make every effort to creatively engage the talents of everyone in our community. And, yes again, I mean YOU!
Sometimes the most obvious way YOU can support us is by sending a donation. We reach out to our donors twice a year with the sincere hope and trust that their generosity will help us meet our financial needs. But the truth be told, if we don’t know who YOU are then we can’t reach out. Please, let us know who YOU are and how to best connect if a donation is your preferred way of connecting with Oasis. Call us, stop by the clinic, or send a message through our website to make that connection, OasisFreeClinics.org. Once we know about YOU, we’ll send updates on the amazing things we are doing and other ways YOU can support us that go far beyond your generous donation.
Most recently, we had three talented chefs donate their time for our Cooking with Oasis fundraiser. Local chefs Sam Hayward, Ali Waks Adams, and Chris Toy offered cooking classes that helped us raise over $5,000 for our free medical and dental services. Their culinary expertise was a wonderful and creative way to get more of our local foodies connected with Oasis. We appreciated their generous giving and the ripple effect it had on connecting more people to our mission. Cheers to Sam, Ali, and Chris!
Speaking of food, maybe you’d like to offer to buy our staff and volunteers coffee or lunch to simply thank our team for supporting our neighbors in need with dental, medical, and mental health services, prescription assistance, and vision care. Those acts of kindness go a long way to support our positive work culture and the knowledge that YOU recognize and appreciate what we do to keep our community healthy.
On July 15th, we are showcasing eight local gardens with our Brunswick in Bloom garden tour and fundraiser (BrunswickInBloom.org). We’ll need help to pull this event off, so if you’ve been looking for a volunteer opportunity, give us a call! This might be the perfect way for YOU to get involved or participate. So, while yes, we need health care professionals to volunteer at our non-profit, there is a place for many others at Oasis. Our board members’ professional backgrounds are diverse and include other areas of expertise which include accounting, human resources, administrators, safety and air quality, banking and information technology, to name a few. We have active committees whose members span the professional realm too (real estate, events planning, legal, education and more). It’s these different perspectives that help make Oasis Free Clinics all that much stronger.
According to a recent report published by WalletHub, when compared to all other states, Maine ranked 11th overall and No. 6 for volunteering and service. (Mainebiz / Nov. 9, 2022). YOU can and YOU do influence this data each and every day with the choices YOU make about sharing YOUR resources, gifts, talents, and time whether in-kind or monetary.
YOU’ve heard the quote, “It takes a village…”. Those words hold especially true for non-profit organizations. Oasis Free Clinics can’t do our work without YOU. We want to provide an avenue for YOU to make a difference that feeds YOUR soul. It all starts by nurturing YOUR desire to give back. If you are interested in being a part of Oasis, reach out. Have a conversation with one of our board members (found on our website). We’d love to connect with YOU and help find out how to begin making YOU a part of something that makes for a better community. YOU fit in here. We look forward to hearing from YOU soon.
Oasis Free Clinics is a nonprofit, no-cost primary care medical practice and dental clinic, providing patient-centered care to uninsured adults living in Freeport, Durham, Harpswell, Brunswick and Sagadahoc County. For more information, visit OasisFreeClinics.org or call (207) 721-9277.
Giving Voice is a weekly collaboration among four local nonprofit service agencies to share information and stories about their work in the community.
Recent Comments