To the Editor:
From Nov. 24, 2008, through Jan. 5, 2009, the organization known as The Friends of Fort Edgecomb (FOFE) has been much in the news. Let me provide some explanation and clarification of this organization’s mission and goals.
Like many another “Friends of…” the Friends of Fort Edgecomb is an organization of citizens dedicated to assisting an institution. FOFE was formed in 1994 to preserve Fort Edgecomb and maintain it as one of Maine’s Historic Sites at a time when the State was threatening to abandon it. The organization’s mission is to assist the State’s Bureau of Parks and Lands and its Park Manager with more than routine maintenance and repairs, to provide educational programs for children and adults by way of docents and historical re-enactment events, and in many other ways to promote the tourist value of this small historic site.
The group consists entirely of volunteers. At present, the Friends of Fort Edgecomb officers are Bruce Cameron, President; Suzanne Carlson, Vice President; Joanna Cameron, Secretary/Treasurer. Roslyn Strong, Jarryl Larson, Andy Abello, Tom Boudin, Tom Tavenner and Frank Perkins are on the Board of Directors.
The Friends of Fort Edgecomb is a federal 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, by rule, since our annual income has been less than $5000. If we intend to raise more than $5,000 per year, we shall file the 1023 application. Since our eventual goal is an endowment for Fort Edgecomb, this application is presently under preparation.
The Friends of Fort Edgecomb is also a State of Maine tax exempt non-profit organization, and files annual renewals with the appropriate fee. However, to date, we have not done the volume of business that makes a state sales tax exemption mandatory.
In May 2008, the Town of Edgecomb, in its annual Town Meeting, approved the allocation of the Town’s annual State Park Fee Sharing revenues and all such annual revenues hereafter to the non-profit organization, Friends of Fort Edgecomb, for the Town’s share in the upkeep and maintenance of Fort Edgecomb. (Edgecomb Town Warrant for 2007-2008, page 99, Article 45)
At the present time, this is the only official connection between the private entity, The Friends of Fort Edgecomb, and the municipal government of the Town of Edgecomb. We are entirely separate parties.
The Friends of Fort Edgecomb invite readers and residents of these several towns to join us in celebrating Fort Edgecomb’s Bicentennial on Saturday, June 13, for a day of historically appropriate amusements, music, foods, and a stirring patriotic Grand Muster of the area’s several military organizations.
Joanna M. Cameron, Secretary/Treasurer, The Friends of Fort Edgecomb
Edgecomb
