The Early Years
Chelcie was born in Dover Foxcroft and raised in Charleston, ME. Her family moved to their house on Branch Lake when she was 10 where she attended Ellsworth middle school. She then went to Bangor Christian for the rest of her education. Her family owned a trucking company to haul US mail from Portland as far north as Caribou and as far east as Calais. Her life plan was to help run the family business!
She went to the University of Maine for one year, but when her grandparents unexpectedly sold the business, she needed a new plan since she had just bought a house! She ended up working for Maine General Medical Center eventually finding her way into the marketing department, something she did not plan, though ended up working there for 8 years. During her time at Maine General, she decided that she wanted to start her own business, so with saved vacation and after work hours she traveled weekly to Tewksbury, MA where she became a licensed electrologist. She opened her electrolysis business in 2014 and got her real estate license in 2015, and ran both businesses for 10 years. During that time, she also served as the marketing assistant for Bangor International Airport which introduced her to the world of Troop Greeting as part of her role was the troop greeter liaison
Chelcie has been married for 11 years to her husband, an accomplished chef. They had 2 beloved dogs, Oakley and Jackson, though they lost Oakley last fall. Jackson is a 15-year-old yellow lab who loves treats and long naps.
Chelcie also loves mini-Donkeys and hopes to own a pair someday! Within the last year, she started a community magazine for the town of Hampden. Local Hampden businesses serve as sponsors. She does a historical piece in each quarterly edition
The Maine Troop Greeters
How did you hear about the Troop Greeters?
As mentioned, Chelcie became the troop greeter liaison while working for the airport as part of her marketing job. Her responsibilities were to attend meetings, answer questions and she basically took over the duties of Heidi who had been the troop greeter liaison for many years. When the pandemic hit, the troop greeters were not allowed to physically greet the troops, so Chelcie and the airport crew did several things to compensate. They created a video of the troop greeters sending their welcomes to the troops. They had a big television where they would play the video on a loop for the troops to view when they came into the terminal. She also created a wall of letters from the troop greeters to the troops. The troops would also post notes about being there before and they missed the greeting!
Being a Maine Troop Greeter
When she left her airport position, the troop greeters asked her to join the board of directors and stay in the same role as liaison, where she also assisted with social media, and other marketing tasks. She was eventually voluntold to become the chair, which she continued for about 2 years. After stepping down as chair, she was asked to be chair of marketing and fund-raising. In that capacity, she worked on different tactics
The coin donation jars did not work during the pandemic. Therefore, they had to brainstorm different fund-raising ideas. She was working with Realty of Maine at the time and found out that they used their parking lot for Waterfront Concerts where the proceeds would go to a charity, so she scheduled 1-2 concerts per year. This provided the greatest amount of funds raised. They have been doing this for 4 years. They were also invited to have a table at a “Wheels for Warriors” event and received some great donations. She is always looking for opportunities to get funds and to find new members as well as people to join the board.
Memories and stories
At one of the Realty of Maine parking events, it was pouring rain and everyone got soaking wet, “we were literally pouring water out of our shoes”, At the time it wasn’t anything to laugh about but the volunteers will never forget and can now laugh about it today and would do it again to support our troops.
She is not normally an outwardly emotional person, but seeing the troops who came down the line faces light up when they saw the dog who was there to greet them really affected her. It resonated with how much they sacrifice to serve, missing their own pets when they are away on deployment.
Chelcie also calls the members for troop flights in collaboration with Heather, which is vital in keeping everyone involved and getting the word out about the flights!
Why should someone become a Maine troop greeter: If you take the time to go and experience it, shake hands, and hear their stories, it is so special and unique and all about human connection and community. It is so important to the troops and so important to put yourself out there and take the time to give it a try!
In summary, Chelcie has been and continues to be a dedicated volunteer whose mission is to help the troop greeter organization thrive so that they can continue to greet the troops and make their experience a wonderful and memorable one!