Portlanders love a good party, and here's one you might not know about: The Frozen Funk Skating Party. To be held from 5:30pm-8:30pm on Friday February 14th at Deering Oaks, this bash will have it all: ice skating, music, food trucks, and raffles. The good folks at Portland Gear Hub will be providing free ice skate rentals, and WJZP 107.9 (Portland's Downtown Groove) will be the evening's DJs. If you're in the area be sure to check it out!

We hope the event is a great success and urge you to RSVP here. Stay warm, Portland!

Here at the Law Offices of Joe Bornstein we have long admired the work done by Preble Street, a local organization whose mission is is to provide accessible barrier-free services to empower people experiencing problems with homelessness, housing, hunger, and poverty, and to advocate for solutions to these problems. Today, we'd like to bring attention to a Preble Street event. Portland's Homeless Persons Annual Memorial Vigil, taking place today, December 21st, at 4:30pm, is a time to remember our homeless friends who have died and to recommit ourselves to the task of ending homelessness.

On the night of the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, a candlelight procession starts at the Preble Street Resource Center and proceeds to Monument Square where a memorial ceremony is dedicated to those homeless persons in our community who have died. All persons who are homeless, who have been homeless, who work with the homeless or who have compassion for the homeless are welcome at this event.

We hope the event goes smoothly and offer our thanks to the wonderful staff of Preble Street for all the amazing work they do. We urge Portlanders to learn more about Preble Street and today's event here.

                             Photography by Corey Templeton. See more of Corey's photos here and here.

Once again Joe's team is spreading the gospel about the Center for Grieving Children, a Portland-based organization that serves more than 4,000 grieving children, teens, families, and young adults annually through peer support, outreach, and education. Since its founding in 1987, the Center for Grieving Children has served more than 66,000 children, teens, and their families.

One of our favorite local radio stations, WCYY, is lending a hand to the CGC with another year of the Mark-a-thon. When you donate to the Center for Grieving Children, DJ Mark will play ANY song, ANY style by ANY artist. Listen all week, around the clock on 94.3 WCYY!

We offer our thanks to the folks at the Center for Grieving Children for the amazing work they do, and also sends our thanks WCYY for helping a great cause. Find more about the Center for Grieving Children here, and more about this campaign here.

                   Photography by Corey Templeton. See more of Corey's photos here and here.

One of Joe's team's favorite local traditions is the Maine Jewish Film Festival, which is taking place virtually this week, November 6th-14th. MJFF curates a program of films that explore the Jewish experience through drama, comedy, documentary and short film formats. The festival has grown to be one of the best-attended, most well-respected, and highly-anticipated cultural events in the State.  While the festival typically takes place in theaters across the state, this year you can catch showings of great Jewish films online at the MJFF website. We hope this festival has another great year and continues to contribute to the rich cultural fabric of Maine!

                          Photography by Corey Templeton. See more of Corey's photos here and here.

Readers of this blog are well familiar with WMPG, 90.9/104.1, which empowers University of Southern Maine students and community members to create diverse, innovative, high quality media, foster the exchange of ideas, and celebrate the many cultures of USM and surrounding communities for broadcast to the world.

As we all know, it takes charitable donations from Portlanders like you to make such an operation possible. WMPG's Fall Begathon is taking place October 20th to 26th, so be sure to donate here. The WMPG volunteers and managers will be asking their listener-supporters for donations totaling $55,000 to meet the station's operations budget. For WMPG volunteers and listeners, the week of Begathon is a 7-day celebration of the unique opportunities that community radio offers. "Regular people, with and without previous media experience, come to WMPG to learn how to make radio that is important to them," explains WMPG Program Director Lisa Bunker. "We teach them the skills and responsibilities of how to do it, and then the music that is played and the topics that are discussed are completely up to them." Find more about WMPG at its official website. Joe's team hopes you chip in to WMPG and help support this important asset to the Portland community!

                        Photography by Corey Templeton. See more of Corey's photos here and here.

Joe's team is happy to once again promote the Boo Bash, a Halloween fundraiser to benefit Simple Gifts. Simple Gifts is an organization that provides financial support and encouragement to patients experiencing a medical crisis, as well as their families. The organization is staffed entirely by volunteers. We respect and admire the work that Simple Gifts does, and are happy to spread the word about the Boo Bash, which will be held on Saturday, October 23rd, from 7-11 PM, in the function room at the Italian Heritage Center at 40 Westland Ave in Portland. Find more about the organization and the event here. We hope the event goes boo-tifully!

                     Photography by Corey Templeton. See more of Corey's photos here and here.

Here's an important message for Mainers: Joe's Team wants you to know about a wonderful organization, The Huntington’s Disease Society of America. The HDSA is premier nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of everyone affected by Huntington’s disease, an inherited condition in which nerve cells in the brain break down over time. From community services and education to advocacy and research, HDSA is the world’s leader in providing help for today, hope for tomorrow for people with Huntington’s disease and their families.

Tomorrow, Saturday October 16th, HDSA is hosting the 7th Annual Freeze HD, and this year it's virtual. Hosted LIVE by Kate Miner, Scott Porter & Jason Ritter, attendees will enjoy exclusive entertainment, access to the INCREDIBLE online auction & much more! Learn more about this fun event here: https://hdsa.org/freeze-hd/.

Joe's team hopes the event goes off without a hitch, and offers our thanks to the good folks at HDSA.

There are few things Joe's team loves more than Mainers helping one another out. That's why we're so impressed by the folks at Q97.9, Portland's #1 Hit Music Station, who are hosting the 19th year of Cans for a Cure and making a tremendous effort to fight cancer by raising money for local cancer programs and taking other steps to raise awareness about this important issue. Tomorrow, Wednesday October 13th, through Friday the 15th, the Q folks will be set up at the Jordan's Furniture Broadcast Center at the Maine Mall collecting cans. All proceeds will go to the Maine Cancer Foundation, which is dedicated to reducing cancer incidence and mortality rates in Maine. 100% of the funds raised will be invested back into our communities to benefit the people of Maine.  Joe's team applauds this noble effort and hopes the funds raised are significant!

Learn more about Cans for a Cure here, and learn more about the Maine Cancer Foundation here.

                   Photography by Corey Templeton. See more of Corey's photos here and here.