Similarly, the Ridge View Community School that runs a school pantry program in Dexter has gone from serving 40-50 families a week to 110 and the nearby Dover-Foxcroft Area Food Cupboard has gone from serving 85 households to 140, plus an additional 10 deliveries to home-bound community members.

Whom do you and other members of your group believe deserves to be your community’s 2020 Spirit of America Foundation Tribute honoree for their help to your organization and/or other causes?

The lack of a vaccine to combat COVID-19 has left the battle against the pandemic to more direct human approaches -- the most common of which is social distancing. But one Piscataquis County company is helping to fight that battle in situations where the six-foot separation between people isn’t possible. JSI Store Fixtures in Milo has been among the nation’s leaders in producing transparent hygiene barriers that perhaps are best recognized as those plexiglass shields that have popped up at local grocery stores to separate the customers from the cashier.

Rita Page, secretary of the Kiwanis Club of Dover-Foxcroft, was overwhelmed when she learned that Shaw's in Dover-Foxcroft was going to donate several boxes with 500 new reusable bags to its backpack program. Pat Hinkley, president of the club, was on hand with Page to gratefully receive those bags from Tina Desimone, Shaw’s customer service manager. T

Any other spring, Lary Funeral Home would be busy organizing graveside services for people who died during the winter and couldn’t be buried in the frozen earth. Now, the dead rest in tombs, and mourning rituals have to wait as the pandemic upends life across Piscataquis County, which on Sunday became the last Maine county to confirm a case of the coronavirus.

President Donald Trump is reportedly planning to use a Korean War-era law to help a Piscataquis County company increase its production of the medical testing swabs that are necessary to confirm cases of the coronavirus. 

When employees at Northern Light Health locations in the county arrived on Friday, April 17 they were greeted with signs featuring messages of encouragement amidst the coronavirus pandemic such as “heros work here” and “you are champions.” The healthcare workers soon learned the gratitude messages had been posted during the early morning hours by Makayla Goodrich, 12 of Monson.

Two local long-term care facilities now have the opportunity to connect residents and their families who have been restricted from visiting due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Thanks to a gift from The Commons, the Hibbard Skilled Nursing & Rehabilitation Center and Hilltop Manor have new iPad 4 tablets to help residents see and talk to family using Zoom or other technology platforms.

Piscataquis County may not be at the epicenter of Maine’s battle against the COVID-19  pandemic -- as of Sunday there is only one positive test among its 16,800 residents. That’s not to say the impact of the coronavirus stops at the county line, including the food insecurity that comes with rapidly expanding unemployment around the state.

While the initial phase of the plan included work packet distribution from day one, and collection in the following weeks, SAD 4 concurrently began moving into the online classroom. We sent iPads home with all students in grades 3-8 on day one, and with students in grades pre-K-2 as appropriate, to provide greater opportunity to access learning. 

Just three weeks after Renys closed all of its 14 stores because of the coronavirus outbreak, the iconic Maine retailer said it will offer curbside pickup for a limited number of purchases.

Gov. Janet Mills said on Friday that her administration was devising a plan to gradually reopen Maine’s economy, though she reiterated that stopping the spread of the novel coronavirus in Maine was the key to allowing business activities to resume.

That effort received a boost this month as The Commons was one of five historic Maine buildings -- two in Dover-Foxcroft --  to receive a Northeast Heritage Economy Program grant to continue the restoration of the 138-year-old edifice.

Full Plates Full Potential, Maine’s only statewide child hunger organization is proud to announce the Piscataquis County 2019 16 County Summer Grant Competition winner. The town of Milo will receive a $500 Summer Meals Program Grant to support the 2020 summer program.

University of Maine Cooperative Extension is offering Maine farmers a chance to connect online from 7-8 p.m. on Fridays to ask questions, get answers and share information.

Pine Tree Hospice’s volunteers make up a large group of women and men in Piscataquis, Penobscot, and Somerset counties, giving 4,399 hours of their time last year. They come from every walk of life and bring with them life experiences that make them perfect matches for the many clients with life-limiting illnesses.

Paul Zimmerman and Martha Ward already had planned an improvement project for the Red Maple Inn in Guilford again this year. They’ve invested in their Piscataquis County restaurant and lounge annually since moving the business across the street in 2013 to its current location -- the former Braeburn Hotel annex on North Main Street. Little did Zimmerman and Ward know how much free time they’d have for renovation this year after the Red Maple Inn and other restaurants around the state were closed to dine-in customers as of March 18 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Take a moment to think of the things, activities and people who bring meaning to your life. Got them? Chances are that one or more of them have been threatened or lost during this pandemic.