Spotlight on… Volunteer Pam MacBrayne

Pam MacBrayne has lived next door to Aldermere Farm for 23 years and remembers well when it was privately owned. While beautiful, it was clearly someone else’s farm with limited access. Maine Coast Heritage Trust’s mission to share the farm with the community is what has drawn her to become a dedicated volunteer.

Over the last several years Pam has been found working in the flower gardens, harvesting veggies at Erickson, providing coverage in the office, painting buildings and (a former owner of a sheep farm) has been instrumental in working with our 4H Club as they have begun raising their own lambs.

“Aldermere now involves everything I love,” shares Pam. “I support land preservation, have a special place in my heart for saltwater farms, believe in the work to support locally grown food and who doesn’t love the Belties!”

Pam has worked in education all her life, leading the effort to bring the University of Maine to Rockland in 1975 and ultimately throughout the state. She and her husband Denis owned a farm locally years ago and value the everyday lessons young people learn on a farm. When volunteering along with a group from the High School last year, Pam helped a student recognize his own contributions to Aldermere that day and the value of volunteering in what you believe in. “At first he couldn’t believe I worked at the farm without pay, but the longer we worked together and talked about why I do, the more he understood!”

Aldermere General Manager Ron Howard shares that, “Beyond all the work Pam does for us, it is her enthusiasm, spirit and friendship we value most. She is a volunteer that contributes so much more than just the labor she provides!”