WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
RIGHT HERE IN MAINE
In the spring of 1979, communities across Maine were shaken by the loss of teenagers in alcohol- and drug-related crashes. In the Oxford Hills region, families and neighbors said goodbye to too many young people in the very weeks that should have been filled with caps, gowns and celebration.
Out of that grief, parents, educators and neighbors made a choice. They would not only mourn; they would act. They came together, gave their effort a name, Project Graduation, and set out to give graduating seniors a safe, supervised, alcohol- and drug-free way to celebrate.
The first Project Graduation was held in June 1980. The idea was simple and built on love: stay up all night together, look out for one another, and make sure every graduate gets home. Other towns followed, then other states, and today it is a tradition in communities across the country. It started here, in Maine.
Every year, the volunteers, sponsors and donors behind Marshwood Project Graduation carry that promise forward. When you give, you become part of a story that began more than four decades ago, when a Maine community turned its heartbreak into protection for the next generation.
