8646-R1_NewGloucester_2022-2023_AnnualReport_Web

ANNUAL REPORT Parks & Recreation Department 2023 was a foundational year for New Gloucester’s department of Parks and Recreation. The department continued with its collaboration with the Town of Gray. The departmental Memorandum of Understanding was signed and enacted during this fiscal year and will be up for evaluation and renewal in 2 years. The MOU outlines the nature in which the Towns of New Gloucester and Gray collaborate to offer GNG Recreation Programming. The department continues to value the collaboration with the Town of Gray to meet the recreational needs of residents and Gray and New Gloucester collectively. The feedback from the partnership thus far has been overwhelmingly positive. The Town of New Gloucester is working on plans for the Fairgrounds Facility that will include permanent restroom facilities for park users. This project has been allocated $75,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act for funding. GNG Rec also began a new monthly program for adults in our community. We offer the Community Café on the second Wednesday of each month. The lunch offering is a partnership with the Southern Maine Agency on Aging that helps departments like ours make meals like this possible by helping bridge the financial gap to pay the caterer. We are thankful to the Congregational Church of New Gloucester for their hospitality and to Two Mums Catering for being wonderfully supportive of our monthly luncheon! The Parks and Recreation Department continued with annual program offerings. We couldn’t offer this programming to the community without the support of our wonderful staff and volunteers. • Kids Club Before and After School Program – 30 Children • Summer Camp Program – 30 Children per week for 9 weeks • Gymnastics/Cheer Tumbling – 312 6 week registrations • Parkour – 70 sessions • Karate- 90 sessions • Fall Soccer- 229 Participants • Jr. Basketball-98 Participants • GNG Diamonds Cheering – 78 participants • Jr Track and Field – 74 participants • Community Café – Served over 120 meals to the community The department hosted the Trunk or Treat at the New Gloucester Fairgrounds. This annual event draws a crowd of over 300 children in costumes, parading around the track at the fairgrounds to collect candy from volunteers who decorate their vehicles for Halloween. Respectfully Submitted, Sarah Rodriguez, Director of Parks and Recreation

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