In the public eye: Windham Parks and Rec’s Sarah Davenport improves quality of life for residents

Sarah Davenport is the Youth
and Family Coordinator for the
Windham Parks and Recreation
Department. She has worked for
the town since 2017.
SUBMITTED PHOTO 

Editor’s note: This is another in an ongoing series of Windham and Raymond town employee profiles.

By Collette Hayes

Department of Parks and Recreation Youth and Family Coordinator Sarah Davenport’s job is all about building community and improving the quality-of-life for Windham residents.

Davenport grew up in the Midwest and while attending Emporia University in Kansas, she worked during the summer months at an all-girls camp in Southern Maine. After graduating with a degree in recreation, she moved to Maine to take a full-time position at a local girl’s camp. Before moving to the Windham Department of Parks and Recreation four years ago, she had the opportunity to work for Freeport community programs running their teen center as well as spending some time working at Windham’s Small School.

“I’m really fortunate to have this job. My role as the recreation coordinator is to plan and run programs that are specifically aimed at children and families which is incredibly rewarding and fun. I live in the same community where I build opportunities for individuals to improve their quality of life. How cool is that?” Davenport said. “An added bonus is, I work in an environment where it is all about support and collaboration. In every department here, there is a supportive team effort among everyone.”

Davenport says that her greatest challenge as recreation coordinator is trying to use all of the resources she has access to with such limited time.

“It would be great to have an unlimited number of people available as well as a few extra hours in the day, then I could make everything I want to do, happen,” she said.

COVID-19 has presented many challenges for youth and their families. A research study in the Journal of Child and Psychiatric Nursing showed findings of the effects of the pandemic on children’s lifestyles and anxiety levels. Of the children, 91.9 percent reported that the pandemic had an important effect on their lifestyle and 75 percent of the children said that the time they allocated for social activity was decreased resulting in isolation and increased anxiety levels.

According to Davenport, an eSports program was started last year in Windham to address the need for children to interact with their peers during the pandemic.

“We have an eSports program which is indeed video gaming,” Davenport said. “We work with a company who puts together leagues specifically for parks and recreation departments. This has been a great opportunity for [youth] to connect with others who might have a similar interest as the players do have the chance to communicate during their matches. It’s all age-based and an avenue for recreation.”

Now with less pandemic restrictions, recreational programming in the department has increased significantly.

“There are a number of different programs we are hoping to resume this year,” Davenport said. “We have a trails passport program that is going on right now that encourages people to explore the trails in town, find a passport station and then receive a stamp on their passport. Family recreation night is a new program that is starting up once a month. Families can come here and participate in games and supervised fun in the gym. Last year, we had a great response to our Winter Adventure Bingo and hope to do it again this year.”

Windham’s Department of Parks and Recreation teams up with other departments as well as other organizations to implement programing.

“Partnerships are a key to what we are doing,” said Davenport. “We have a lot of great organizations we partner with. A key part of what we are doing is to identify and cultivate these partnerships so we can maximize our resources and make more things happen. “We partner with the U.S. Tennis Association to run our fall and spring Tennis in the Parks program for kids grades 1 to 8. Mad Science is run in the local school classrooms by Mad Science of Maine. The Sebago Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce co-sponsors Trunk or Treat. This year Trunk or Treat will be held in the parking lot behind the Windham Mall. Also, we have an after-school youth yoga program run by a local yoga instructor.”

Some of the programs do require a fee.

“If a family is in need, they can apply through the Department of Social Services and a percentage of the cost of the program will be covered,” Davenport said. “There are also scholarship funds available which are quite a bit larger.” <