By Dawn De Busk 

Staff Writer

NAPLES — The community service was done for the kiddos, not the kudos.

That is the common theme with all the four women involved with a Naples-based committee that plans and pulls off various activities for children and their families. 

This month, the Naples Recreation and Activities Committee received the Spirit of America award.  

Committee member Connie Madura said that she was honored and humbled to be part of the team that received the recognition. 

“I don’t do it to be recognized. I do it for my community. Kids are important to me. I want to make sure they get what they deserve — good memories,” Madura said. “My children grew up here. My husband grew up here. Now, our grandchildren are growing up in this community. We want to pass down all the fun memories. That is what it’s all about.”

The committee members, Madura, Kim Litchfield, Deb Dean and Kathy Keinath, were presented with the framed Spirit of America awards during the Naples Board of Selectmen meeting on April 12.

“We were all very surprised about it. It is heartwarming to know that four ladies can work together so well and make nice stuff happen. That people recognized us for it is great. They didn’t need to, but they did,” Madura said. 

Keinath said she was extremely appreciative and at the same time “a little shocked” by the Spirit of America award. 

“We weren’t doing what we did to get commendations. When you see the kids come through with the smiles, that’s the reward,” Keinath said.  “We love doing things for the community. We don’t do them to be recognized. But boy, it certainly is nice to be recognized.”

Dean volunteered to help with the events before she joined the committee two years ago. 

“I was so surprised to get the award. We do it because we want to do it, not for the recognition. I love living in Naples. It is a privilege to be part of the town committees and to do things that benefit” the residents, Dean said.  

“We have a great committee and the town supports us. Whatever we want to do they support us and that is so important,” she said.  

“I was thrilled to get the award. I will hang it by my desk,” Dean added. 

The Recreation & Activities Committee is responsible for brainstorming and executing the family oriented events that take place around the holidays and throughout the year. When COVID-19 and the social-distancing requirements were added to the equation, it made the job a bit more challenging. In response, the committee got more creative.

“Specific to COVID, I’m not sure I would use the word challenge,” Keinath said. “We just knew we wanted to do something for the community because there was so little happening. Instead of saying what we couldn’t do, we asked what could we do that was safe. We put our heads together and came up with ideas.”

Activities were planned around Halloween and Christmas and also spread out during the month of February. In February, there was a family ice fishing event hosted by the Sebago Lake Anglers and there was a cardboard sledding day at Kent’s Landing. Also, a virtual snowman contest helped children share their cool creations.  

According to Committee Chair Kim Litchfield, offering the Halloween kits as a drive-up event proved to the committee that it could be done. At that point in time, in October 2020, most towns had cancelled town-sponsored events and even trick-or-treating was being discouraged.    

“I think once we got our first event under our belt, we felt more confident. We were concerned. That was when it [positive COVID-19 cases] was ramping up,” Litchfield said. “We were really nervous. But once we got the first one under our belt, we said, ‘We can do this.’ We can still follow the guidelines and give the kids and families something to look forward to.”

It was referred to as Halloween Week in Naples and it was offered as two drive-through events.

At the beginning of the week, on a Monday evening during a light rain, the women handed out pre-Halloween bags and pumpkins for families to carve. Families were invited to drop off Jack O’Lanterns for a contest. On Halloween, which fell on a Saturday, the Village Green was transformed into a spooky spot with opportunities to pick up candy bags.

The public’s positive response led the committee to do more.

“We got feedback as they were going through the line. All the ‘Thank you’s’ and ‘We appreciate everything you do’ — that made us want to do something for Christmas,” Litchfield said. 

Typically, the Town of Naples holds a big tree-lighting that includes cookie decorating and Christmas crafts, singing Christmas carols and the arrival of Santa.

The holiday event followed the drive-through format, and it was incredibly popular. The Lake Region Vocational Technology’s culinary students supplied the cookie icing kits and Hannaford Supermarket donated to the cause. 

“We handed out 150 stocking in 45 minutes period,” Litchfield said. 

Keinath described the December turnout.

“Literally, people were in line a good half hour before we started. We did not anticipate that. As people got in line, there were more showing up,” she said. 

Kudos came from the vehicles.  

“Every parent, every kid said, ‘Thank you for doing this’ or ‘You ladies rock.’ It was heartwarming. I don’t think there was one car where everyone didn’t say thank you. It was literally the best turnout we ever had to be honest,” Keinath said.  

The women commented on the collaboration.

“I think we have good energy. We work well as a committee,” Keinath said. “With that said, we would like to have community participation in the committee and more participation during the events.”

Madura talked about the teamwork.

“We are such a good team and work together well because we all have the same feeling about it,” she said. 

Deb Dean agreed. 

“We work so well together. We did it on our own because the recreation director was on furlough. So our committee decided to take it on ourselves to do it and the town was really supportive. We worked hard to stay within the guidelines of COVID. You know what is nice? We can throw out our idea and everyone builds on the ideas. We all participate. Everyone has their strength,” she said. “The most important thing is that we are four women who truly enjoy working with one another and truly enjoy seeing how the public responds. The public is so nice. Our community has been so appreciate.  We have so many lovely families.”

“It is fun being on this recreation committee,” Dean said.