January 22, 2019 | Angie Helton | Northeast Media Associates

The Telling Room Chosen as 2019 TD Beach to Beacon 10K Beneficiary

CAPE ELIZABETH, Maine (January 22, 2019) – The TD Beach to Beacon 10K Road Race has chosen The Telling Room, a nonprofit writing center that empowers youth through writing, as its 2019 race beneficiary, race organizers announced today.

Please join us online at 4 p.m. today for a Facebook Live event from the The Telling Room. Joan Benoit Samuelson and Celine Kuhn, the Executive Director of The Telling Room, will share more about the amazing work done by the organization.

Founded in 2004, The Telling Room is Maine’s only youth-focused literary arts organization, offering innovative, effective and often life-changing writing programs for more than 4,000 Maine kids each year, reaching students from nearly 100 schools in 70 towns across the state, including those from diverse backgrounds and experiences. All core programs are 100% free to students and their families.

The Telling Room has received regional and national recognition for its innovative work, including a prestigious National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award in 2015—the nation’s highest honor in their field—as one of the top 12 youth arts and humanities programs in the United States.

“The Telling Room is a wonderful organization that is helping students all around Maine find their voices and share them with the world,” said Larry Wold, president of TD Bank in Maine. “The work they are doing is inspiring, and we are delighted to have them on board as this year’s beneficiary of Beach to Beacon.”

The TD Charitable Foundation, the charitable giving arm of TD Bank (www.TDBank.com), will provide a $30,000 donation to The Telling Room.

The TD Charitable Foundation has now donated more than $600,000 to Maine charities over the history of the TD Beach to Beacon.

 

The Telling Room will further benefit from fundraising activities, including the race’s charity bib program, as well as increased awareness through its association with one of Maine’s premiere sporting events. Previous beneficiaries so far have raised an additional $1.6 million or more in total beyond the TD Charitable Foundation donation.

“The Telling Room is honored to be selected as the 2019 Beach to Beacon 10K beneficiary,” said Celine Kuhn, Executive Director of The Telling Room. “The support we receive will help us keep our core programs 100% free to children & their families, and will greatly increase our visibility in the community to help us reach new audiences and leverage additional resources.”

“We’re honored and thrilled to be the beneficiary of the 2019 TD Bank Beach to Beacon. The timing couldn’t be better as this year marks our 15th anniversary,” said Celine Kuhn, Executive Director of the The Telling Room. “This partnership will help us deepen our programmatic reach. For example, we’re launching a brand new creative youth development program that will explore social justice and career and college readiness, all while continuing to serve more kids than ever before.”

 

Kuhn continued, “we admire the community spirit of this race, and we can’t wait to lace up our running shoes!”

 

The Telling Room offers a variety of programs for Maine youth, families and educators, including:

In-School Residencies: throughout the school year, Telling Room teaching artists and community volunteers work with students in local classrooms to write, edit and publish stories in original chapbooks.

Summer Camps: a variety of programs offered from June to August for writers of all ages and interests.

Field Trips: bringing local language arts students to the Telling Room’s Old Port writing center for the morning.

Young Writers & Leaders: a nine-month-long writing and leadership program for international refugee and immigrant high school students.

Young Emerging Authors: a small group of fellows (ages 12-18) who are selected through a rigorous application process to write an entire book in a single calendar year.

Publishing Workshop: a weekly, semester-based program that provides participants (ages 12 and up) a working tutorial on the book publishing industry in an apprenticeship environment.

Writers Block: weekly afternoon sessions to give budding writers (ages 6-18) time to work on their projects. Writers Block sessions include solo writing time, group work, and featured workshops with local artists and writers.

Each year, The Telling Room’s programs are all linked by a new theme; the best student writing from the year is published in a major Anthology released in the spring at a community event attended by hundreds of supporters.

To learn more about the Telling Room’s programs, visit www.tellingroom.org.

The TD Beach to Beacon, set for August 3, draws runners from throughout the region and the world to picturesque Cape Elizabeth. The race begins near the Crescent Beach entrance on Route 77, winds along tree-lined streets and past breathtaking ocean vistas and ends in Fort Williams Park at the historic Portland Head Light, the most photographed lighthouse in the world.

More than $90,000 in prize money is awarded to the top finishers and place winners in the various categories for men and women, and a separate $30,000 donation is provided each year by the TD Charitable Foundation, the charitable giving arm of TD Bank, America’s Most Convenient Bank®, to The Telling Room, the race beneficiary.

For additional information about the race, visit b2bdevelopment.wpengine.com,

and find the TD Beach to Beacon on FacebookTwitter and Instagram.

 

About The Telling Room

The Telling Room’s mission is to empower youth through writing and share their voices with the world. Focused on young writers ages 6 to 18, they seek to build confidence, strengthen literacy skills, and provide real audiences for their students. They believe that the power of creative expression can change communities and prepare youth for future success.


About The TD Charitable Foundation

The TD Charitable Foundation is the charitable giving arm of TD Bank, America’s Most Convenient Bank ®, one of the 10 largest commercial banking organizations in the United States. Since its inception in 2002, the Foundation has distributed over $199 million and more than 19,400 grants through donations to local nonprofits from Maine to Florida. More information on the TD Charitable Foundation, including the online grant application, is available at TDBank.com.

About TD Bank, America’s Most Convenient Bank ®


   TD Bank, America’s Most Convenient Bank, is a member of TD Bank Group and a subsidiary of the Toronto-Dominion Bank of Toronto, Canada, a top 10 financial services company in North America. The Toronto-Dominion Bank trades on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges under the ticker symbol “TD”. To learn more, visit
www.td.com.TD Bank, America’s Most Convenient Bank, is one of the 10 largest banks in the U.S., providing more than 9 million customers with a full range of retail, small business and commercial banking products and services at more than 1,200 convenient locations throughout the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Metro D.C., the Carolinas and Florida. In management services through TD Wealth ®, and vehicle financing and dealer commercial services through TD Auto Finance. TD Bank is headquartered in Cherry Hill, N.J. To learn more, visit www.tdbank.com. Find TD Bank on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TDBank and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TDBank_US.