The Maine Children’s Alliance is honored to celebrate John Neptune as a recipient of a Champions for Children 2026 Giraffe Award.

For more than three decades, John has devoted his time, energy, and heart to Maine’s children, families, and communities. Through mentorship, recreation, cultural education, leadership, and service, he has consistently “stuck his neck out” to create opportunities and make a lasting difference in the lives of young people.

John’s journey began in 1994, when he returned to the Penobscot Nation after studying at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He quickly noticed something missing in his community: there were few opportunities for young people to gather, connect, learn, and have fun.

At the time, John worked at a tape factory from 3 to 11 p.m. During his free time, he began inviting a few young people to his home on weekends for cultural and recreational activities. A few became six, then 12. Before long, his small house was becoming a youth recreation center.

John didn’t have much money or equipment. He used scraps of clothing as flags for flag football and bought inexpensive supplies whenever he could. But what he lacked in resources, he made up for with creativity, determination, and a deep commitment to young people.

The Penobscot Nation took notice. By the end of 1994, John was hired as the tribe’s full-time Recreational Coordinator. On his first day, he had no budget, no office, no desk, and no chair. His workspace was a janitor’s closet. For the youth, he had one inexpensive rubber basketball.

More than three decades later, John is still showing up.

Today, he serves as Recreational Coordinator and Unit Director for the Penobscot Nation Boys & Girls Club, where he leads a staff of eight and supports Native youth ages 6–18. He has spent more than 30 years creating opportunities for young people to build confidence, develop skills, connect with their culture, and discover what they are capable of achieving.

His commitment extends far beyond the walls of the Boys & Girls Club. For the past decade, John has served as a cultural consultant with the Wabanaki Youth in Science program and has shared Penobscot cultural knowledge with University of Maine students, schools throughout Maine, and educators at conferences across the country. He has helped weave traditional knowledge into Western science through programs including MOOSE and the Bumble Bee Project.

John also serves his community through leadership and service. He is in his fourth term on the Penobscot Nation Tribal Council and has chaired the Penobscot Nation Fish and Game and Land Committees. He was the first Wabanaki appointee to Maine’s Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Advisory Council, serves as a Maine State Hunting Guide and Penobscot Nation guide, and spent 10 years as a captain with the Penobscot Nation Fire Department.

For the past 10 years, John has coached middle school basketball, leading his teams to five championships and earning two sportsmanship awards along the way.

But perhaps the numbers and titles tell only part of the story. The real measure of John’s impact can be found in the young people who have had a place to go, a person to turn to, a culture to learn from, and someone who believed in them.

In 1994, John started with a small house, a handful of kids, a few homemade football flags, and one rubber basketball. He built something much bigger.

For more than 30 years, John has continued to stick his neck out for Native youth, for families, for culture, for education, and for his community, and we are so deeply grateful for his commitment. Please join us in celebrating John as a 2026 Champions for Children Giraffe Award Winner!