Maine nurse starts non-profit to help community

BANGOR, Maine (WABI) - National Nurses Week wraps up Friday, but nursing is a profession that should be celebrated all year long.

As if our healthcare professionals don’t do enough for our community already, one nurse in Bangor decided he wanted to help even more.

Alan Beatty is not your average nurse.

Beatty joined the Marine Corps out of high school. After his enlistment was over, he took advantage of the GI Bill to pursue a career in nursing.

Through social media he raised enough money to buy 40 turkeys for the Maine Veteran’s Project Thanksgiving food drive last year.

That experience left him inspired to create his own non-profit with one goal in mind.

“Help anybody and everybody in the Bangor area that we can. You know, I loved working with Maine Veterans Project, and I want to continue working with them and helping our veterans, but they are a veterans’ organization. And so, I had some ideas for other events that I wanted to put on, other communities and other populations that I wanted to help,” said Beatty. “So, I decided to start my own organization and hopefully make my ambitions a reality.”

Now he’s one step closer to his goal with the creation of his new foundation, Not Your Average Nurses.

With paperwork nearly complete, Beatty is excited to set his ideas in motion.

He hopes to eventually host an event every month.

“Myself and all of my board members, we don’t have one specific goal in mind. And, you know, it might be too ambitious but we’re willing to give it a shot. And if we have to narrow our focus a little bit, then we will. But like I said, I’d like to help anybody and everybody that we can,” said Beatty.

For updates, follow Not Your Average Nurses Foundation on Facebook.

Right now they’re holding a tattoo raffle.

Beatty says they’ll be more fundraisers like that in the future as they work towards planning their first signature event.

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