Every year, the Mission partners with organizations across Maine and beyond to provide services, education, and more to communities Downeast and on Maine Islands. We recently chatted with Lizzie Cunningham with Women for Healthy Rural Living (WHRL), based in Milbridge, about their work and their partnership with the Mission.
What is your name? What organization do you represent?
I am Lizzie Cunningham, and I am the Experience Coordinator for Women for Healthy Rural Living (WHRL). Our mission is to advance and promote the health of the woman, her family, her community, and the planet. WHRL was founded in 2004 by our executive director, Chris Kuhni, who was a nurse practitioner at Milbridge Medical Center for many years. We began as the Women’s Health Resource Library, a consumer health lending library that was attached to the Milbridge Medical Center, but open to the entire community. Over time, the library piece became less relevant, and we added more preventative programs.
What program or project are you collaborating on with the Mission?
We collaborate with the Mission on our Harvest Table Cooking program, which is part of our Incredible Edible Milbridge Initiative, founded in 2013 to address food security. We have two large, free, and pick-your-own gardens in the community. One garden is at Milbridge Commons Wellness Park, and then we also have a garden at the Red Barn Motel in space donated by the hotel. The Harvest Table Cooking program began specifically from an experience one of our board members had in the gardens. She was approached by a community member who picked a leaf of chard and didn’t know what to do with that chard. Our board member had the idea to start a hands-on cooking class specifically designed to help people utilize all the garden-fresh produce. Last year, we hosted eight Harvest Table classes. And then we were awarded a Hannaford Chef Grant, which allowed us to offer 12 monthly programs in 2025. That was only possible because of the sustained collaboration with the Mission, providing a space with a commercial kitchen so we can all cook together. The Weald Bethel Community Center space feels warm and inviting and is greatly appreciated by all the Harvest Table participants.
What drives you to do the work you do?
The Harvest Table Cooking class is an example of the programming that we provide through WHRL. We’re not a direct healthcare provider, but we are looking to fill the gaps that many people experience. You will be learning skills to connect the food grown in the gardens with what you can eat on your plate in an affordable and interesting way. The program also connects participants with other community members. We find that so many of our program participants are new to the community and their social life begins through WHRL programs. People are isolated, nationally, but also particularly in our region, living as rurally as we do. We are trying to create spaces for people to come together in a meaningful way.
Your gift to the Maine Seacoast Mission makes you part of all we do.
How does working with the Mission benefit the people your organization serves? We have a strong belief at WHRL that what benefits Milbridge benefits our region. We love partnerships with other organizations who are doing the work in our community. It makes all of our work stronger. It also allows us to share with our program participants what’s happening at the Mission. I think it goes back to that same issue of people feeling isolated; we want folks to be connected with as many resources as possible.
What has been a memorable moment at Harvest Table?
I think the Harvest Table Cooking Program is filled with memorable moments. Every month, we see our gathering populated by people who are regular program attendees and then we have new folks coming in too. People are building community. We’ve had some Harvest Table leaders volunteer in other WHRL programs as well.
What’s your favorite region of Maine?
I love living Downeast. In Maine, we have many forests, and many mountains, but Downeast, you have the ocean, and you have blueberries. It is just such a uniquely beautiful place. We also have such a unique community. It’s a community of people who, again, because we live very rurally, have many skills. You have to really build the life that you want. When you’re here, it’s not handed to you, you have to build your social life many times, you may have to build your house. I think that kind of energy in the community is inspiring to me. We are a community of builders, of makers, of artists and musicians. It is a rich, small community.
What would people be surprised to learn about Downeast Maine?
I would hope people would recognize that the Downeast region, despite its rural landscape, is a very connected community. Many times, because we are lacking a variety of resources, people are, at least in my experience, more likely to be closer with their neighbors, or more likely to lend a hand. You have a community that’s curious and interested and willing to do the work, whatever that looks like. It’s a generous community and a talented one.