Class of 2022 students spread holiday cheer in Biddeford

Class of 2022 students gathered in Biddeford to spread holiday cheer during service event
Class of 2022 students gathered in Biddeford to spread holiday cheer during service event

The University of New England’s Office of Citizenship & Civic Engagement recently partnered with the Heart of Biddeford for a service event involving students from the Class of 2022.

Sixty-five students gathered on Main Street to give back to the community by decorating the downtown with holiday lights and creating care packages for the York County Shelter Program.

The event was featured in a report on NEWSCENTER Maine.

“We’re really close with our community in Biddeford,” sophomore class president Kaitlyn Quirk (HWOS, ’22) told NEWSCENTER Maine. “We’re always looking to help out when they need us.”

Students spent about three hours stringing lights and putting together 50 care packages for the shelter residents. The packages included personal hygiene items such as shaving cream, razors, hairbrushes, shampoos, soaps, and dental care items. All of the items were donated or given as gifts by local area dental offices and hotels. Students delivered about $2,000 worth of donated items to the shelter.

Staff from UNE’s Citizenship & Civic Engagement Office obtained generous vouchers from the Salvation Army of Northern New England that allowed each adult resident at the shelter to receive a sweatshirt and a pair of sweatpants. Children at the shelter could use the vouchers to receive sweatshirts, sweatpants, pajamas, and a stuffed animal.

“It just means a lot that we get to help them out in any way we can really," sophomore class vice president Gunnar Fryzlewizc (Education, ’22) told NEWSCENTER Maine. "It brings a nice smile to my face.”

Events like this are crucial to connecting UNE students to the southern Maine region that many of them now call home.

The Office of Citizenship & Civic Engagement and the Heart of Biddeford hope to make this project an annual tradition.

Students strung holiday lights on tress downtown and in city parks
Students strung holiday lights on tress downtown and in city parks
Students assembled 50 care packages for shelter residents
Students assembled 50 care packages for shelter residents

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.