FARMINGTON — Judith Frost and Rev. Marraine Kettel are the recipients of the 2025 Salt & Light awards presented annually by Farmington Area Ecumenical Ministry [FAEM]. Information about the award recipients was presented during FAEM’s annual meeting held May 22 at Trinity United Methodist Church.

“We have two Salt and Light awards to present today,” Moderator John Balicki said. He asked Rev. Susan Crane, a recipient of the award last year, to share information about Frost. “You know Judy the best here and know all that she has done for us,” he noted.

“Judy Frost retired recently from Western Maine Community Action,” Crane stated. “There was no choice, but there was one choice she could make when the [federal] money was cut to almost nothing. She said, “It’s more important there be two people left in the front office to keep this program going.” So she retired.”

Frost worked for 45 years as a community services representative at Western Maine Community Action [WMCA] in Wilton, the first person Crane met when the idea of establishing an ecumenical heating fund arose. “She was the one who said, “I’ll take the applications and keep track of them,” which was good because otherwise we would have had to make the decisions on who should get oil and who should not, and that’s what we were trying to avoid,” Crane noted. “She’s like the rock behind the program. We always could call and say, “Where do things stand? How much more are we going to need?” in the early days.”

At first the program was considered an emergency program, Crane said. People would call WMCA to say they needed oil, were almost out but had all kinds of reasons for not knowing specific details, she stated. “That gave rise to the idea that maybe people could fill out their own applications,” she noted. “We didn’t have to pay people to take those phone calls. And so it changed into an on purpose program, not an emergency one.”

In 2010 Frost was one of two WMCA staff receiving a Salt & Light award for her efforts working with FAEM churches to provide emergency fuel assistance through what was then called Franklin County Ecumenical Heating Fund.

Crane thought it was in 2013 that the program had pretty much maxed out the amount of money the community was able to give and was not able to fill all the requests for oil. “So I suggested the idea of having people contribute a share, $50 toward the cost,” she said. “Judy called together a meeting of all the stakeholders. … Out of that we did suggest the idea that people could apply themselves and they could give a share of $50 toward it. The oil vendors liked that. It turned out the elderly people in our community did because they didn’t want any government handouts, they were paying for it themselves.”

It was a huge success and it’s still going on, Crane stated. Someone has to sit at the computer and log in all the information, add it up by town and cost at the end of the season, she stressed. “That was Judy,” she said. “That’s what Judy did, and it gave us the information to share and encourage [people] to keep giving.”

Frost is no longer at WMCA to help with coordinating, Crane noted. “They’re going to try and keep it going, though, largely because you all said we can’t drop this, this is way too important,” she said. “Whatever the government does or doesn’t do, [FAEM has] got to keep trying to make sure people are able to not die in their homes from cold.”

“Thank you for all of your wonderful years of service with ECU Heat,” Balicki said when presenting Frost the award.

He noted a second award was being presented to Rev. Marraine Kettel, pastor of Old South Congregational Church in Farmington. Margaret Gould-Wescott shared information about Kettel, who was unable to attend.

Old South was the last local church to have a full time minister, Gould-Wescott stated. “Last November, they were thinking of reducing it, and the decision hadn’t been made if it was going to be half time or not,” she said. “But she’s 52 and she needs an income and health insurance, so she made a decision in November to go to part time.”

Kettel took on a second job as a chaplain, Gould-Wescott noted. Kettel has since decided to leave Old South and her last service would be the funeral on May 23 for Patricia Hayden, the church’s organist for 34 years as well as accompanist for Community Chorus and other events locally, she said.

Marraine is brilliant, learned how to provide services through new technology during COVID-19, Gould-Wescott stated. “The contacts she has in the United States, it’s just incredible,” she stressed. “So she’s brought that kind of expertise into our area. It wasn’t always accepted. We had a pedophile, we had a stalker for her. I have great respect for her, and I will miss her terribly.”

Kettel was also thanked for her contributions to FAEM worship services by Anne McLintic Smith of Strong, a worship committee member. “She put in a lot of energy and creativity,” Smith noted. “She’s a very tech savvy person, and that helped a lot.”