If you live in a four-season environment, the end of winter and the arrival of the first few warm days of spring is an anticipated ritual. This year, ice, snow, and cold hung on for a bit longer than many of us liked. But since we don’t have direct control over the weather, we continued waiting.
Mary and I sat out on the deck two weeks ago on a Sunday, simply basking in the warming rays of the sun. Looking out over the tidal cove that we live next to, we talked about the difficulties of this past year and how the impact of losing Mark still reverberates through our lives.
One year ago at this time, we were in California, after flying across the country. The West Coast trip was a necessary pause in what had been three months of emotional pain and a whirlwind of tasks, trying to pick up the pieces of our lives following Mark’s sudden death while he was out walking across America. Sometimes it all seems like a dream (or better, a nightmare). But as they say, “life goes on”—even though there are still days when neither one of us want to move forward or think about life lived without Mark.
Springtime is also a season that’s impossible not to contemplate without being bombarded with the endless memories of Mark playing baseball. He was a gifted athlete and he excelled on the diamond from his early years playing Little League, continuing his baseball journey at Greely High School and then, finally, at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts. Mark’s senior year, the Lyons played for the national Division III championship in Appleton, Wisconsin. The team came up one game short, losing to Marietta College (Ohio), after winning dramatically the afternoon before, beating Chapman University (California). What I wouldn’t give for one more chance to sit in the stands and watch one of Mark’s at-bats.
Last November, I met with an experienced nonprofit attorney based in Portland to begin the process of moving the Mark Baumer Sustainability Fund towards nonprofit status. By the end of 2017, we’d officially become a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation. That means that all donations made to the fund are now tax-deductible.
As a nonprofit entity, we are required to have a board of directors. We formed our first board late in 2017 in order to hold our initial meeting. We voted on directors. I will serve as our first president and Mary is our secretary.
Mary and I are honored to have two friends with years of nonprofit experience supporting our efforts and serving their first term as board members. They also agreed to step into director’s roles, too.
David Craig is our vice president. He is a longtime friend, with his friendship dating back to the late 1970s when we met at Lisbon High School, in Lisbon Falls, Maine. Dave was a baseball and basketball teammate of mine. We also share a love of music.
Dave’s spent his entire career working in Maine connected to the semiconductor, biomedical, as well as pulp & paper industries as a scientist, engineer, and program manager. In addition to his work, he’s remained active in politics and progressive causes. In 2012, he was elected to his first term on the Yarmouth Town Council. He is currently serving a second three-year term in the town where he lives with his family.
Additionally, Dave served as the founder and former executive director for Work it Up, a nonprofit with a mission of connecting unemployed professionals with project work with the local business community.
Paul Scalzone is our treasurer. Like Dave, Paul is a dear friend. He received his B.A in Social Sciences from the University of Maryland. Then, after moving to Maine, he initiated a 35-year career in 1983 as a workforce development professional with Mid-Coast Maine Community Action and was subsequently promoted to the position of Program Director for Workforce Solutions at Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI), a mission-driven investor that helps grow quality jobs, environmentally sustainable communities, and supports private enterprises that nurture shared prosperity for all people, especially those with low incomes.
Paul brings a wealth of nonprofit experience to any board assignment he takes on, having served on a variety of volunteer community boards and committees including; the Central Western Maine Workforce Investment Board, Coastal Transportation, Inc., Mid-Coast Human Resources Council, the Brunswick Downtown Association, the Thomaston Zoning Board of Appeals, Literacy Volunteers of Mid-Coast Maine, and the Western Maine Volunteer Tax Assistance Coalition.
As Mark’s parents, we feel fortunate to have two friends who also knew Mark and his passion for sustainability standing alongside us as we move forward with the Mark Baumer Sustainability Fund.
As a board, we have launched the first-ever Mark Baumer Memorial Scholarship for Young Activists. We will be awarding $500 scholarships to Providence-based graduates who have demonstrated an affinity for activism during their high school years. These awards will be made to qualified students with an activist inclination who attend Providence-area high schools and who will be attending an accredited non-profit postsecondary institution during the coming academic year.
If you’d like more information and know someone who might be a possible candidate, please email markbaumersustainabilityfund@gmail.com. The deadline for applications is May 8.
We remain committed to funding important community projects that raise awareness about the environment, promote social justice, as well as involving under-served populations directly in renewing their communities. These were the issues and causes that fueled Mark’s passions and were what he gave his life for. The Mark Baumer Sustainability Fund is an effort begun by Mary and I to keep his passion and spirit alive in the world.
The support we’ve received since initiating the fund a year ago has been gratifying, so thank you! The 501(c)(3) status and development of a working board is the next logical step towards maximizing the possibilities for embodying the traits that were part of Mark’s philosophy of life—love, kindness, and working towards building a better world.
Donations can be made via the fund’s website, which was launched at the tail-end of 2017, right around the time we became a nonprofit foundation.
As always, feel free to connect with us via email, or by picking up the phone. If you still do the handwritten thing (which is very cool!), a note to P.O. Box 10602 in Portland, Maine 04104 would make us very happy.
Thinking of you Mark, always.
~Jim