Maine Extension Homemakers

 #1 Homemakers serve 

Volunteer efforts across the state benefitted over one hundred community organizations within the State of Maine, from Aroostook to York Counties. 

#2 Homemakers donate 

Whether it is time, or goods or outright cash, Maine Extension Homemakers are generous with their donations. Scholarships, camperships, supplies for shelter bags, sewing pajamas, making comfort pillows, holding community baby showers, dressing a child, supplying school supplies, collecting tissues, outfitting a Rotary Tree, baking cupcakes, dollars to K9s on the Front Lines, and to supporting so many people in need, and so many more examples, homemakers have been generous. 

#3  Homemakers like to eat 

Part of being a homemaker is spending time with friends who are also homemakers. Every club in every county listed going out to eat as part of their yearly activities, and that’s a good thing!  Eating meals alone can be a bore, but eating out with friends always lifts one’s spirits. Studies have shown that eating with friends increases appetites and improves moods, so go out for coffee and dessert! 

#4  Homemakers care for one another 

With a focus on mental health in 2023, more and more homemakers experienced the joy and satisfaction of receiving cards and notes from fellow homemakers. Reaching out to tell someone you’re thinking of them has benefits for both the sender and receiver. Some clubs regularly make meals and deliver them to members who need a little help preparing food for themselves. Sometimes, we drive a fellow homemaker to an appointment when they need a little help. Sometimes, we support each other in times of need. 

#5 Homemakers educate 

Across the state, all clubs in all counties held educational programs for their members. Learning about birds and butterflies, edible wild foods, electric pressure cookers, canning techniques, gardening, soil quality, the Food and Nutrition Education Program at Cooperative Extension or travel destinations near and far, homemakers prove time and time again that they are lifelong learners, and incorporate education into their yearly programming 

#6 Homemakers are crafty 

Homemakers enjoy learning new crafts and making crafts almost as much as they like going out to eat!  Jewelry making, wreath making, floral arrangement, needle crafts, sewing projects, quilting projects, felting, soap and candle making, card making, and on and on and on…the creativity is astounding. 

#7 Homemakers are becoming fewer 

With all the wonderful things homemakers do, there are fewer clubs and fewer members than ever in our 74-year history. Homemakers have evolved over the past seven decades, and the terminology of young families today does not necessarily reflect the terminology of young families in 2024. However, what we learned during the COVID shut downs was that the skills that were important in the 50s and 60s and 70s are still important to families and individuals today—things like growing your own food, preserving that food, recycling food scraps into compost, raising healthy families, sewing, learning how to maintain a home, learning how to repair basic things around the house,  budgeting, communicating, and staying safe are all skills that young people today recognize as important skills to learn and know. These are skills we, as homemakers, know…many of them were learned through our involvement with homemakers.  

We have a role to play, still, in helping shape a new generation of people. They may not define themselves as Homemakers, but they need and want to learn what we know.  

Our challenge is how do we make that connection with them?  Do we offer workshops through adult education?  Through our churches?  Do we offer classes through Cooperative Extension?  Or training opportunities at county-wide events like trade shows or fairs, or at multi-county events like the Freyburg Fair or the Common Ground Country Fair?  Perhaps a state event like the Agriculture Trade Show? 

For the remainder of 2024 our focus will be to bring our skills to the people in our communities who need them, brainstorm ways to pass our knowledge on to others, work within your county clubs to identify at least one event you can host to teach a skill to someone. Perhaps not a lot of people show interest. That’s ok, offer it again. Advertise a different way, put bulletins out at church, work with your local library, or adult ed, or maybe teach a skill at a summer camp or through your local recreation department. Reach out in any way you can to connect to people to teach them a life skill, and educate them about homemakers. Keep trying-don’t give up. 

We must grow our groups if we are to continue to be able to educate and serve the members of our communities.  

Thank you for all you do, and will continue to do, as Maine Extension Homemakers. 

– Best wishes to you all, your MEHC President, Marie Temm