Who We Are
Noteworthy is an all-volunteer group of creative people in Midcoast Maine who raise funds for the international health care organization Partners In Health by creating and selling handmade collage notecards.
Our mission is twofold: to engage the creative spirit of all who create, send, and receive these cards, and to generate support for Partners In Health.
the noteworthy story
In 2004, a group of women artists and friends in Camden, Maine, became deeply inspired by Tracy Kidder’s nonfiction book, Mountains Beyond Mountains. Published in 2003, the book follows the story of Dr. Paul Farmer, who co-founded Partners In Health. With his colleagues, Dr. Farmer pioneered novel, community-based treatment strategies that demonstrate the delivery of high-quality health care in resource-poor settings, beginning in Haiti and expanding worldwide.
Spurred to support PIH’s work around international health, the Camden group organized a variety of events to raise funds and awareness. The first year, the group brought author Tracy Kidder to give a talk, organized a Haitian dinner at a local restaurant, and held the very first tag sale (a fancy term for yard sale.) All told, these initial events of 2004 raised $6,000 for Partners In Health.
In 2009, an idea to make and sell greeting cards led to noteworthy: a group of PIH supporters who began to meet regularly to design and create handmade cards. That year, between tag sale proceeds and sales of noteworthy cards for $4 each at Zoot Coffee, a phenomenal local business supporter, the all-volunteer group raised $8,000.
As of 2021, card sales and 15 years of the tag sale have generated over $100,000 for Partners In Health.
the Partners In Health story
Partners In Health (PIH) was founded in 1987 by Dr. Paul Farmer, Ophelia Dahl, Dr. Jim Yong Kim, Todd McCormack, and Thomas J. White. It is an international health care organization that works in 12 countries to deliver quality health care to people and communities devastated by the joint burdens of poverty and disease. PIH has three core goals: to care for patients, to alleviate the root causes of disease, and to share lessons learned around the world.
Learn more at www.pih.org.
noteworthy donates every penny to PIH.
Zoot Coffee has been 100% essential to this project by providing a place to sell our cards for the past 12 years.
To purchase noteworthy cards (and excellent coffee), stop into Zoot on Elm Street in downtown Camden, ME.
What drives Partners In Health is what drives us.
As a social justice organization, PIH responds to the moral imperative to provide high-quality health care globally to those who need it most.
PIH strives to ease suffering by providing a comprehensive model of care that includes access to food, transportation, housing, and other key components of healing.
PIH brings the benefits of modern medicine to those who have suffered from the overt and subtle injustices of the world, in the past and in the present.
Thank you for your support.
Inspired to start your own card group?
Reach out to noteworthy co-founder Mary Amory for ideas.
maryamory.123@gmail.com