Ten-year-old Jenna Gagnon of Waterville, Maine, prepared herself for a very special journey as she packed up to leave school one Monday afternoon. Jenna was headed for the Maine State House to witness Governor John E. Baldacci sign a bill into law that would create a very special new state holiday: Family Reunion Day.
Jenna and her classmates at Albert S. Hall School had learned about how a bill becomes law. After Jenna’s father, State Senator Kenneth T. Gagnon, D-Waterville, came to the class to explain lawmaking, she came up with the idea to designate a holiday in August. Her reason for this special day she says, “Some of my family live far away, in Oregon, Florida and Massachusetts. It’s a way to get everyone home. And because the time between July 4th and Labor Day seemed much too long to wait for a holiday.”
The bill was sponsored by Jenna’s father who presented it as “the feel good bill of the season.” Maine will now observe Family Reunion Day the Monday after the first weekend each August.
Family reunions have become pretty popular among the younger generations and Jenna and her classmates have proven that. Congrats to Jenna on a job well done!
Reported by Shnee McNeil-Hatcheet, who interned at Reunions magazine while a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
