Executive Committee Meeting

November 4, 2025

1. Commissioner Quorum and Attendance:

  • Present: Commissioner Celeste Branham, Chair Pam Proulx-Curry, Chair Elect Bill Guindon, Vice Chair Scott Adams, Commissioner Luke Shorty, Commissioner Kelsey Preecs
  • Absent: Commissioner Ruben Torres
  • Pam will send a

2. Urgent and Timely Issues from Volunteer Maine Staff:

  • Government shutdown update; Impact on AmeriCorps
  • Management Analyst I position posted
  • SNAP benefits cut and MaineCare benefits – volunteerism gap filling?
    • Maine Equal Justice did a presentation for Maine Immigrant Rights Collation looked at upcoming chances to SNAP Maine Care and Medicaid because.
    • SNAP – is there a list of food pantries. Because this is an emergency it is a wise ting to link and promote on our page. Let’s get creative in light of an emergency. We do not have to do this all the time but just in an emergency.
    • Maine Feeding partners – there is a crisis nationally that there are people without paychecks, increased food costs, - a lot of pantries require background checks. The big issue is the donations and the cost of food. It is not necessarily a lack of volunteers. There are about 600 pantries associated with Good Shepard – most of them do not have the capacity to be part of Good Shepard because they do not have capacity. We also are in drought conditions and normally we would have fruit and vegetable donations but because of a low harvest.

3. General updates and planning:

  • ServeMaine.org
    • Executive Director asked Commissioners to support the roll out of ServeMaine.org by reaching out to organizations to encourage them to list their opportunities on the ServeMaine.org website.
  • Commissioner recruitment
    • Commissioner Shorty has a scheduled meeting with Thomas College students on November 12th. Chair Proulx-Curry is following up on two contacts to inquire about their interest. 
  • Move to MOCA, State Statue Move
  • State Strategy Task Force Standup
  • Gov. Service Awards Start up
    • Commission Shorty reported that the membership of the task force is set, the BaseCamp is set up, and the first meeting will happen soon.

 4. Task Force Updates

  • Finance
  • Public Policy/Communications
  • Service Programs
  • IEA
    • Commission Branham took a quick poll on Penthea Burns’ presentation – there was unanimous support for the presentation in the last Commission meeting.
  • Grants Selection & Performance