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Ophelia Hu Kinney is a member of HopeGateWay, one of four area congregations that have voted to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church over its policies about sexuality and discrimination against the LGBTQ community.
Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer
When Ophelia Hu Kinney and her wife moved to Portland in 2016, they found themselves at home at HopeGateWay, a community of faith that grew from the roots of the former Chestnut Street United Methodist Church.
Hu Kinney felt HopeGateWay, which was affiliated with the United Methodist Church, had put to rest questions about queer and trans inclusion and was focusing on the larger community, social justice and spiritual formation.
Maine congregations break away from United Methodist Church over LGBTQ policies pressherald.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pressherald.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Vaccine clinic brings hope, relief to elders on Peaks Island
Front-line immunization teams from Northern Light Health and MaineHealth administer shots to 130 senior residents of the community to fend off COVID-19.
Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
Reta Morrill got a rousing Peaks Island welcome when she stepped out of the cold and into the warmth of the community hall at the Brackett Memorial Church.
Born and raised on Peaks, 89-year-old Morrill was a fixture at the island market for four decades before COVID-19 made it too risky for her to continue working there as a cashier.
On Sunday, Morrill was one of 130 island elders who got their first shot of the Moderna vaccine during a Valentine’s Day clinic organized by islanders and others, most of them volunteers. They included a group of nurses from the mainland who woke early to ride the ferry from Portland and deliver the vaccine as the sun was rising over an icy gray Casco Bay.