Courtney Collins on the Belfast Rail Trail, at the mouth of the Passagassawakeag River. Coastal Mountains Land Trust was instrumental in the fundraising campaign for this community project, which provides about two miles of riverside trails accessible to all. Photo Thalassa Raasch
Courtney Collins draws on her life experiences in supporting a range of causes, from conservation to racial equity
When Courtney Collins’s friend Keith, later her husband, bought land on Mixer Pond in Morrill in Waldo County in 1989, he couldn’t wait to bring her there. It was February and she remembers walking across the frozen pond, in a blizzard. “Well, I really loved the place, and the man who brought me there,” she says, “and I kept coming back.”
After Keith died in 2004, Collins began spending more time at the cabin they built on the pond. She had retired from her nurse practitioner position in New York City, but continued to volunteer at a summer camp for children of migrant farmworkers in the Hudson River Valley. In 2012 she bought a house in Belfast and moved to Maine for good.
Collins feels a link to every living creature at the pond: birds, plants and animals. “I feel essentially a part of that forest ecosystem,” she says. “Since I have placed conservation easements on the two parcels I own out there, I feel like I am effectively one of the guardians of that place and those animals.”
Coastal Mountains Land Trust had contacted Collins in 2009 about placing easements on the land: “From the outset, donating them felt like a very meaningful way to honor my husband’s memory.” She named the land Kingfisher, a bird she and Keith enjoyed watching together. And when she set up a donor-advised fund at the Maine Community Foundation, she chose the same name as a way to share the joy that nature continues to provide for her season after season at the pond.
Through her donor-advised fund Collins is able to direct grants to causes of interest to her. Last year, she transferred portions of the fund to three of MaineCF’s five strategic goal funds. Her support, she says, reflects her “sense of gratitude” for what she has been given in her life – an education, a livelihood, a home in Maine – as well as her “recognition of the needs in the community” where she lives.
Collins explains the inspiration for each gift. For the early childhood goal, she was struck by a statement she heard at a seminar that one caring person in a child’s early life can have a big impact, even counterbalancing the negative effects of, say, a difficult family situation. “I want to contribute to creating an environment where a child in need can find nurturing relationships,” she says.
Her reasons for supporting the access to education goal are personal. “My own college and nursing school education were, so to speak, handed to me by my very generous father,” Collins recalls. “I want to offer a helping hand to those who are beginning or returning to their own college careers while also working, raising children – coping with all the complications of life as an adult.”
Collins points to her experience in minority and underserved communities as part of her motivation to further MaineCF’s racial equity strategic goal work. At various times, she worked in East Harlem in a family neighborhood health center, in public schools, and in a health services program for homebound older people. She was also exposed to other cultures early in life: Her father was in the Foreign Service so she attended elementary and middle school in Paris, Madrid, and Turkey. She supports Doctors Without Borders – “because of my admiration for the people who place themselves at risk to help others” – and humanitarian work in Palestine.
Finally, Collins gives through her donor-advised fund to the Waldo County Fund because “it’s where I live.” She admires local organizations like Restorative Justice and Waterfall Arts. She also appreciates hearing about other opportunities from MaineCF staff and has learned a lot at its annual summits. “[The foundation] has broadened my perspective on white privilege and on education,” she says, “and allowed me to exchange ideas with others whose backgrounds and outlooks differ from mine.”
