NEWRY — Members of the Bethel Area Nonprofit Collaborative visited the Board of Selectmen to present information about their group and to ask whether the board wished to join.

Selectmen agreed to discuss membership at a later time.

Steve Wight, a member of BANC, and Amy Scott, the collaborative’s network facilitator, visited the Board of Selectmen during Tuesday’s meeting and spoke about the different organizations that have joined the collaborative, and what its benefits were.

Among the membership, Wight said, are the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce, the Hope Association, the Mahoosuc Arts Council, the Ski Museum of Maine and the Western Mountains Senior College.

Scott pointed out that the towns of Bethel and Greenwood joined the collaborative and that Sunday River Ski Resort was one of its business members.

“The idea of the collaborative is to work with individual organizations and help with different issues, such as fundraising, increasing memberships and planning,” Scott said. “We hold quarterly meetings so the towns and organizations can share information and engage in new discussion.”

Wight said, “It provides organizations a chance to learn what other groups are doing.”

Scott said the collaborative would also help teach younger people about the importance of becoming volunteers with nonprofits and of providing a service to the town.

“There are a lot of towns out there that have a lot of seats to fill on different committees and boards,” Scott said. “We hope to show how important these positions are to our towns.”

Selectman Jim Largess said he thought the Bethel Area Nonprofit Collaborative was a good group, but he was concerned that there was “no finish line.”

“That’s the challenge: figuring out where the finish line is,” Largess said. “You guys aren’t just looking for $50 from a town or a group. You’re looking for people to participate.”

mdaigle@sunmediagroup.net

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