{"id":41256,"date":"2021-09-10T15:05:21","date_gmt":"2021-09-10T19:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/meet-mofga-volunteer-randy-dondero-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-09-10T15:09:20","modified_gmt":"2021-09-10T19:09:20","slug":"meet-mofga-volunteer-eva-and-paul-murray","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/meet-mofga-volunteer-eva-and-paul-murray\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet MOFGA Volunteers Eva and Paul Murray"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\"Eva<\/figure>

Meet MOFGA Volunteers Eva and Paul Murray<\/h3>

Fall 2021
\nBy Betsy Garrold\n

\n\nEva and Paul Murray certainly personify the community spirit that keeps every small community in Maine functioning. As residents of Matinicus Island, they are the quintessential embodiment of the \u201ccan-do\u201d and \u201cwe\u2019re-all-in-this-together\u201d ethos of rural living \u2014 a fact that made itself apparent when I tried to set a time to interview them for this article. On the evening finally agreed upon there was a delay as Paul got called out to fix a problem with the phone system on the island. At last, we got to chat.\n

\nEva moved to Matinicus Island in 1987 to teach school, fell in love with the local master electrician, Paul, and settled in to build a life in this small island community. Together they raised two children there and became, from all accounts, an integral part of Matinicus Isle Plantation.\n

\nIt has not always been an easy and idyllic life. From surviving a plane crash (Eva) to receiving the Carnegie Medal for heroism for helping rescue a crew from a sinking construction tugboat (Paul), their lives can go from quiet to dangerously adventurous in moments. Rural communities stick together, and as Paul says, \u201cif someone is in trouble on the water you help them.\u201d\n

\nFor many years they had been going to the Common Ground Country Fair, camping along the tree line at the Windsor fairground. When they were encouraged to volunteer at the Fair they started out as generalists, trying their hand at everything from parking cars to face painting to participating on the safety team. When Steve Plumb discovered that Paul was a master electrician, Paul transitioned to helping set up and maintain the Fair\u2019s electrical grid. \n

\nPaul says the electrical work at the Fair has gotten a lot easier over the years due to innovations from the group of dedicated electricians who work at the Fair. In the past, some of the food vendors had to be directly \u201cwired in\u201d to the grid for the weekend, but they now have access to plugs. Now on Sunday night the vendors can just unplug and go.\n

\nEva is content to work as a generalist and pitches in with a variety of tasks. \u201cI like to keep my fingers in a lot of pies,\u201d she says. Eva is a member of the emergency medical team and has worked on the safety team. Fairgoers might know Eva from her role introducing keynote speakers and making public service announcements over the loudspeakers at the Fair. For each role, she keeps an eye toward good communication and safety for Fair attendees.\n

\nWhen asked what advice they might have for future volunteers, they both recommended going into the volunteer experience with an open mind: \u201cDon\u2019t think of a specific thing you would like to do but think about what the Fair might need done.\u201d Many hands make light work, and it might be something as unglamorous as standing by the trash cans helping folks get the right bit of recycling, compost or garbage into the right container.\n

\nWhen the Murrays return to their island home after their week helping set up and break down the Fair to continue their essential work keeping Matinicus running, I think we can all be thankful that they take a brief hiatus each year to be two of the cogs that help the Common Ground Country Fair community function.\n\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meet MOFGA Volunteers Eva and Paul Murray Fall 2021 By Betsy Garrold Eva and Paul Murray certainly personify the community spirit that keeps every small community in Maine functioning. As residents of Matinicus Island, they are the quintessential embodiment of the \u201ccan-do\u201d and \u201cwe\u2019re-all-in-this-together\u201d ethos of rural living \u2014 a fact that made itself apparent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"page-builder","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-41256","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMeet MOFGA Volunteers Eva and Paul Murray | Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Meet MOFGA Volunteer Randy Dondero\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/meet-mofga-volunteer-eva-and-paul-murray\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meet MOFGA Volunteers Eva and Paul Murray | Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Meet MOFGA Volunteer Randy Dondero\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/meet-mofga-volunteer-eva-and-paul-murray\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-09-10T19:09:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Eva-and-Paul-Murray.jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@MOFGA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mofga.org\\\/meet-mofga-volunteer-eva-and-paul-murray\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mofga.org\\\/meet-mofga-volunteer-eva-and-paul-murray\\\/\",\"name\":\"Meet MOFGA Volunteers Eva and Paul Murray | Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mofga.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mofga.org\\\/meet-mofga-volunteer-eva-and-paul-murray\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mofga.org\\\/meet-mofga-volunteer-eva-and-paul-murray\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mofga.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/Eva-and-Paul-Murray.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-10T19:05:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-10T19:09:20+00:00\",\"description\":\"Meet MOFGA Volunteer Randy Dondero\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mofga.org\\\/meet-mofga-volunteer-eva-and-paul-murray\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mofga.org\\\/meet-mofga-volunteer-eva-and-paul-murray\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mofga.org\\\/meet-mofga-volunteer-eva-and-paul-murray\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mofga.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/Eva-and-Paul-Murray.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mofga.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/Eva-and-Paul-Murray.jpeg\",\"width\":576,\"height\":541,\"caption\":\"Eva and Paul Murray\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mofga.org\\\/meet-mofga-volunteer-eva-and-paul-murray\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mofga.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Meet MOFGA Volunteers Eva and Paul Murray\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mofga.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mofga.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners\",\"description\":\"Helping farmers and gardeners grow organic food\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mofga.org\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mofga.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mofga.org\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mofga.org\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mofga.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mofga.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/11\\\/logo-mofga.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mofga.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/11\\\/logo-mofga.jpg\",\"width\":200,\"height\":200,\"caption\":\"Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mofga.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/MOFGA\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/mofga\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/maine-organic-farmers-&-gardeners-association\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/MaineOrganicFarmers\",\"https:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/Maine_Organic_Farmers_and_Gardeners_Association\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Meet MOFGA Volunteers Eva and Paul Murray | Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners","description":"Meet MOFGA Volunteer Randy Dondero","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/meet-mofga-volunteer-eva-and-paul-murray\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Meet MOFGA Volunteers Eva and Paul Murray | Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners","og_description":"Meet MOFGA Volunteer Randy Dondero","og_url":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/meet-mofga-volunteer-eva-and-paul-murray\/","og_site_name":"Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners","article_modified_time":"2021-09-10T19:09:20+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Eva-and-Paul-Murray.jpeg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@MOFGA","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/meet-mofga-volunteer-eva-and-paul-murray\/","url":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/meet-mofga-volunteer-eva-and-paul-murray\/","name":"Meet MOFGA Volunteers Eva and Paul Murray | Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/meet-mofga-volunteer-eva-and-paul-murray\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/meet-mofga-volunteer-eva-and-paul-murray\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Eva-and-Paul-Murray.jpeg","datePublished":"2021-09-10T19:05:21+00:00","dateModified":"2021-09-10T19:09:20+00:00","description":"Meet MOFGA Volunteer Randy Dondero","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/meet-mofga-volunteer-eva-and-paul-murray\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/meet-mofga-volunteer-eva-and-paul-murray\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/meet-mofga-volunteer-eva-and-paul-murray\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Eva-and-Paul-Murray.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Eva-and-Paul-Murray.jpeg","width":576,"height":541,"caption":"Eva and Paul Murray"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/meet-mofga-volunteer-eva-and-paul-murray\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Meet MOFGA Volunteers Eva and Paul Murray"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/","name":"Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners","description":"Helping farmers and gardeners grow organic food","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/#organization","name":"Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association","url":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/logo-mofga.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/logo-mofga.jpg","width":200,"height":200,"caption":"Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/MOFGA","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/mofga\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/maine-organic-farmers-&-gardeners-association\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/MaineOrganicFarmers","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Maine_Organic_Farmers_and_Gardeners_Association"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/41256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/41256\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mofga.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}