The state of Maine and our country have been made better, brighter and vastly more brilliant through the lives, gifts and contributions of our immigrant, refugee and asylee neighbors. Community members who arrived from Somalia, or any other country, are people we call beloved neighbors, trusted colleagues and cherished friends.

These community members grow food to provide for others, run and are elected to public office, create programs to address complex social issues and educate young people on how to become better citizens. These are community members who are medical professionals, who care for us when we are sick, help to educate our children at every grade level, create beautiful art and music and start successful and powerful businesses.

Please find ways to stand with and for our immigrant, refugee and asylee neighbors here in our state and in our country. I, for one, cannot imagine Maine without the beauty and benefits that have been offered so abundantly by so many from the immigrant, refugee and asylee communities. I see these gifts and their positive impacts every day.

Deborah Bicknell
Yarmouth