Here we are smack dab in the middle of the holiday season. The excitement and joy are palpable, but a lot of the news – at the national level – has been anything but joyous since our last newsletter.
During this time of year, we are reminded that we are all connected, part of a larger community, celebrating various traditions that are steeped in generosity, compassion and love.
Still, this can be a difficult time for many people: financial stress, overwhelming expectations and estranged family dilemmas.
Earlier this week, we again published State Rep. Marc Malon’s monthly column. Marc touched upon some difficult realities regarding the holidays, but he also provided a list of resources that are available for those who are struggling this time of year.
We also shared some uplifting stories that demonstrate the kindness and generosity of our community.
Students from the University of New England once again partnered with Biddeford Primary School to make the holiday a bit brighter via the Holiday Giving Tree Toy Drive. The students collected 300 toys, double their goal of 150.
The Biddeford-Saco Rotary Club — through its annual Adopt-A-Family Program – made sure that 200 local children experienced the joy of Christmas morning.
The St. Louis Alumni Association donated $50K to three local charities: Biddeford Food Pantry, the My Place Teen Center and Apex Youth Connection.
Hannaford supermarkets donated $10k and 20,000 pounds of food to Youth Full Maine, a Biddeford-based non-profit.
Taking care of business:
Earlier this week, the newly elected Biddeford City Council held its first regular meeting and wasted no time in tackling a long list of pending issues. I have to admit; I smiled during rollcall when a majority of the councilors answered “present” instead of “here.” A nice legacy left behind from a former councilor.
Mayor Liam LaFountain unveiled his plan to create an ad-hoc committee to make recommendations of potential changes in the city’s Institutional Zone, which is comprised of UNE’s growing Biddeford campus. The new mayor’s proposal was warmly received by the public, members of the council and even the university.
A private developer has been able to secure federal funding for environmental remediation at the site of the former MERC waste-to-energy incinerator, which was shuttered in 2012.
We took an exclusive look this week at the campaign finance reports filed by the three mayoral candidates, and we broke a story about the possibility of hiring a full-time, in-house attorney.
We also spoke with State Sen. Henry Ingwersen about his bill to create more mental health resources for workers in Maine’s outdoor heritage industries: logging, fishing and farming.
With the help of our advisory board, we published a Top-10 list of Biddeford news stories for 2025.
We have several news and feature stories still in development, not to mention our exclusive, one-on-one interview with Santa Claus, which will be published on Dec. 23. It’s a story appropriate for both children and adults.
As always, thank you for reading. Please stay safe and enjoy all that this season offers.
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Randy Seaver is the editor and founder of the Biddeford Gazette. He may be reached by email: randy@randyseaver.com
c.) 2025 All Rights Reserved
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