STRONG – Strong’s annual Pierpole Day celebration will take place on Saturday, July 13, 2024. As a part of the celebration, the Strong Area Health & Dental Center – In partnership with the Healthy Community Coalition of Greater Franklin County – will host a fun 5K run/walk event. You won’t want to miss this family-friendly outdoor activity!
The event course will start and end at the Strong Area Health & Dental Center, 177 North Maine Street, in Strong. The event will begin at 9:00 AM. Those who plan to register on the day of the event should arrive at 8:30 AM. In lieu of a registration fee, please bring a donation – either a non-perishable food item for the community pantry, or diapers for the MaineHealth Diaper Drive. Adult participants will be given one entry for a chance to win raffle prizes; one additional raffle entry will be provided for every three extra donations that the participant contributes! In addition to the run/walk event, we will be distributing fun giveaway items, and a mobile health unit will be onsite to provide health education, kid’s games, and prizes!
Please visit the following RunReg page to pre-register and help our planning committee prepare –
https://www.runreg.com/12074
As a thank you for pre-registering, the first 50 registrants who sign up by June 7th will also be able to order a FREE participation t-shirt!
The Pierpole Day 5K planning committee is also seeking volunteers to help ensure this event is a success for the community. Volunteers are requested to assist from 7:00 AM to 1:00 PM on July 13. Volunteers can help with setup, teardown, and other assorted tasks. If you are interested in volunteering, contact Ayla Haines at
( 207 ) 860 – 8609 or Ayla.Haines@HealthReach.org by no later than Friday, June 30.
Finally, for those that are curious – Pierpole Day is an annual event celebrating local Strong heritage and history. The day is named after the Wabanaki (Abenaki/Amaseconti) settler Pierre “Pierpole” Paul. Paul and his wife, Hannah Susup, came to the Strong area in the late 1700s to settle in what was known at the time as Middletown.
Strong Area Health and Dental Center is a part of HealthReach Community Health Centers, a Federally Qualified Health Center consisting of twelve community health centers located across rural Central and Western Maine. Dedicated clinicians deliver high-quality, evidence-based healthcare – inclusive of behavioral health, substance use disorder treatment, dental, and podiatric services – to residents from 9 of Maine’s 16 counties.
To ensure access for everyone, HealthReach accepts Medicare, MaineCare, and major insurance providers. An Affordable Care Program is available to both uninsured and underinsured people. Assistance is available for applications to programs that help with your healthcare and medication costs – including enrollment support for Maine’s Health Insurance Marketplace.
A private non-profit with a 49-year history, HealthReach is funded by patient fees, grants, and by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) as part of an award totaling $4,815,606 with 82.2% financed by non-governmental sources.
The contents above are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent the official views of or an endorsement by, HRSA, DHHS, or the U.S. Government.
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