The Kennebec Valley Chordsmen
The Kennebec Valley Chordsmen, of Waterville, will be offering Singing Valentines on Friday, February 14, 2020. For $35, a quartet will sing two love songs, present a card and a rose. Contact Galen Larrabee at 465-6579 (C) or Juan Lavalle-Rivera at 437-9274 or by email to 19rambler60@gmail.com.
Keisha Small, left, and Allan Rancourt, President of Kennebec Federal Savings, congratulating Keisha upon being the preliminary round winner in the Lights, Camera, Save, video competition. (photo courtesy of Kennebec Federal Savings)
Submitted by Dave Carew
Keisha Small, an 18-year-old senior at Lawrence High School, in Fairfield, who is also enrolled in Mass Media Communications at Mid-Maine Technical Center, in Waterville, has been selected by Kennebec Federal Savings as the winner of the local round of the “Lights, Camera, Save!” video competition sponsored by the American Bankers Association. The competition, open to those from 13 to 18 years of age, solicits original short videos from teens nationwide; each video must promote the value of saving money and using money wisely among teens. Keisha worked with her MMTC teammate, Mason Cormier, to create the video. Keisha’s teacher at MMTC is Dave Boardman, Mass Media Communications Instructor.
Keisha submitted the 90-second video to Kennebec Federal Savings, the local participating financial institution for the “Lights, Camera, Save!” video competition. Kennebec Federal Savings selected Keisha’s video to advance to the national competition, and also announced at a ceremony held in Waterville on January 15 that they were awarding Keisha a new GoPro camera.
“We chose a storyline approach to the video, to draw people in,” Keisha said. “We wanted to show that smart, regular saving can not only help you pay bills, but also help you do really enjoyable things, like taking trips.”
Keisha’s video, along with all the entries submitted by banks across the country, now advances to the national competition, where it will be reviewed by ABA Foundation judges. They will select up to 6 videos as finalists to be shown for the Savers’ Choice social media contest and Bankers’ Choice contest.
The Savers’ Choice Social Media Contest will run from noon February 12 through noon February 19, and all are welcome to vote. (More information is available here.)
The Banker’s Choice contest will take place at the Conference for Community Bankers, in Orlando, Florida, from February 9-12, where bankers will vote on the finalists.
National winners will be announced Wednesday, February 26, at 2 p.m. ET, via ABA’s YouTube Channel.
The first place, second place, and third place winners will receive cash prizes of $5,000, $2,500, and $1,000, respectively, to fund their savings goals. Each winner’s school also will receive a scholarship for a teacher to attend the 2020 Jump$tart National Educator Conference.
View the winning video entry below:
Dave Carew, of Waterville, is a freelance book editor, publicist and copywriter, and can be contacted at (615) 540-7457.
Well the TRIAL is over and so is the BOWL……now what?
Be a Witness to your OWN enlightened experience, growth and enjoyment!
The Belfast Senior College is now offering three special one-day courses in February.
The Sequoia: A Guest Celebrity, Wednesday, February 12. Relive the history of “The Floating White House,” now in Belfast Harbor undergoing rehabilitation.
Be Your Own Personal Knitting Designer, Friday, February 14. Learn to make your own knitting pattern and create your own design
The Fundamentals of Civic Discourse, Thursday, February 20. Learn how to contribute to restoring civility in our public and private discourse.
All courses will be held at the Hutchinson Center, in Belfast, from 9:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. Registration is now open via www.belfastseniorcollege.org.
Explanation of the processby Regina Coppens
League of Women Voters of Maine, Capital Area Chapter
The Maine Legislature enacted a Presidential Primary law in 2019, changing the way Maine voters select party candidates for the presidential election from a caucus to a primary. Instead of the political parties meeting in each municipality to select their presidential candidate, candidates will be selected by secret ballot. This change was supported by many who felt that it would boost voter participation in the selection process. In the past, some of the caucus locations were not large enough to accommodate all the party members who wanted to participate, and other party members were unable to spend the hours required at caucuses to cast a vote.
Who can vote in the March 3 election? In addition to the presidential candidates, there will be one referendum question on the ballot. Any registered voter can vote on the referendum question. Voters do not need to be enrolled in a political party to vote on the ballot question.
However, in order to vote in the primaries, you have to register with a party. Unenrolled, or independent voters may enroll in the party of their choice up to and including on Election Day. If, after the election, you want to unenroll from the party, you must wait three months. Voters who are already enrolled and want to change their party affiliation in order to vote a primary ballot must do so 15 days before the election.
Absentee ballots may be requested up to three months before an election and until the third business day prior to the election. For the presidential primaries on March 3, the latest date to request a ballot is February 27, 2020. (Under certain special circumstances, a voter may request an absentee ballot after this deadline.)
Absentee ballots are available 30 days before elections and must be turned into the city or town office by 8 p.m. on the day of the election, March 3.
The following candidates will be on the ballot in the Maine’s presidential primary according to the Maine Secretary of State’s office:
Democrats: Joseph Biden, Michael Bloomberg, Cory Booker, Peter Buttigieg, Tulsi Gabbard, Amy Klobuchar, Patrick Deval, Bernard Sanders, Thomas Steyer, Elizabeth Warren, Marianne Williamson, and Andrew Yang.
Republicans: Donald J. Trump
Any registered voter can vote on the referendum question.
Do you want to reject the new law that removes religious and philosophical exemptions to requiring immunization against certain communicable diseases for students to attend schools and colleges and for employees of nursery schools and health care facilities?
What does this People’s Veto mean?
A “Yes” vote means veto the law and reinstate the religious and philosophical exemptions. A “No” vote means keep the law and close those non-medical exemptions.
In May 2019, LD 798 was signed into law. It eliminates non-medical exemptions to school-required immunizations. The law retains the currently defined medical exemptions, but removes “philosophical reasons” and “religious belief” from the exemption language.
The law allows physicians and nurse practitioners to write medical exemptions using their professional judgment.
Regina Coppens is a volunteer with the League of Women Voters, Capital Area Chapter. The league is a non-partisan organization and does not support any candidates. Its goal is to inform voters about elections. Regina Coppens can be contacted at 376 West Rd., Belgrade, ME 04917, 207-877-4282.
Darla Frost
New Dimensions Federal Credit Union, in Waterville, announces its new Vice President of Lending, Darla Frost, who comes to them with over 20 years of mortgage lending experience. Frost is also an active charter member and treasurer of the Waterville Lion Club as well as an affiliate member of the Kennebec Valley Board of Realtors.
Directors and staff are excited to have Frost join their team as her experience and wealth of knowledge will be valuable as she settles into her position. She will spearhead the future path of lending by navigating innovative lending programs, compliance, member satisfaction, and more. She states, “I am amazed and excited that New Dimensions is the type of financial institution that truly cares about their members and it shows by the customer service and special care they take with each member. They walk the talk and I look forward to becoming a part of this team. I am especially looking forward to helping the other lenders succeed by coaching and assisting each of them in a manner that works for their individual needs.” Frost enjoys camping and kayaking and spends most of her summer at a local campground in Winthrop. She resides in Augusta with her fiancé Peter
Ryan Poulin, CEO, states, “I am so pleased that Darla has joined our team here at New Dimensions. She will be an instrumental part of our management team because of her years of experience, knowledge and dedication to our communities. She will focus on member experience, ease of process, and saving members money. We welcome her and I look forward to working closely with her in the years to come.”
Hopelessly caught between the colonial aims of several European nations, primarily England and France, Maine’s native population never stood a chance. Dozens of tribes in western Maine were decimated by an endless series of war, disease, trauma, and displacement from their homelands. Their cultural presence has been lost to the world; their histories are told by white men. This presentation locates the tribes along western Maine rivers and identifies the forces that sealed their fates. Learn of the names of Wawenocks kidnapped by George Weymouth and Capt. Henry Harlow, of the murder of Squanto, and of the western Maine Indians who were tricked into capture at Dover, New Hampshire, and later imprisoned, hanged, or sold into slavery never to be heard from again.
Our KHS speaker, Peter Stowell, grew up in Andover and Bethel. Educated at Gould Academy, the University of Maine, and Tulane University in New Orleans, he was entranced early by the majesty of Oxford County’s mountains and rivers and began exploring its history and geography as a child. He is now focused on recovering cultural information long lost to present generations through assiduous research in Maine’s defunct newspapers, official state and federal directories and reports, and informed sources. For his presentation to the Kennebec Historical Society, Stowell has collected information on Maine’s Indians from more than 100 sources, some of them dating back to the early 1600s and most of them dating before 1900.
This KHS presentation is free to the public (donations gladly accepted). The presentation will be followed by some light refreshments and take place at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, February 19, at Hope Baptist Church, located at 726 Western Avenue, in Manchester.
Karen Hatch stands outside the Swap Shop at the China Transfer Station. (photo by Eric Austin)
Walking into the Swap Shop at the China Transfer Station, you may find that you don’t recognize the place anymore. Gone are the disorganized piles of clothes, toys, tools and odds and ends with no apparent plan or place to stand. Instead, the small space has been arranged with a finesse fine enough to make a Macy’s manager blush. Books line the wall as you walk in, arranged by author. A T-shirt with the message “SHOP ‘TIL YA DROP” is pinned to the far wall. Boxes of men’s and women’s clothes crowd the bottom shelves, neatly labeled by size.
The change that has come over China’s Swap Shop is due to the hard work of one woman who saw an opportunity to make a difference in her community and took it. Her name is Karen Hatch, aka “Queen of the Swap Shop.” She’s a member of the China for a Lifetime Committee, a local group dedicated to exploiting volunteering opportunities in China.
The Swap Shop has a wide selection of books, now arranged by author. (photo by Eric Austin)
“The first day was quite overwhelming,” Karen confides. “But day by day I got it organized.”
The Swap Shop was built roughly two years ago, according to China Transfer Station Manager Tim Grotton, who says it’s become a popular destination for local residents. “I bet there’s close to a hundred people that go in there on a Saturday,” says Grotton. “I’m amazed how many people use it. It’s pretty astounding.”
I met with Karen on a frosty Friday afternoon, one of the slower days at the transfer station. While we talked, half a dozen people dropped by. We added a box of brand new attachments for a sleep apnea machine, six jars of slightly rusty nails, a steady-light with camera attachment, and a pair of red suspenders. Everything found a place in the newly-organized Swap Shop. “It’s all about merchandizing,” Karen explains as she hangs the suspenders on a hook she had recently installed.
It’s certainly been a learning process for Karen, who retired in December 2019 after serving 27 years as childcare director for the city of Augusta. When she first embarked on this project at the beginning of January, she made the mistake of setting down her mittens. It was only for a minute, but before you could say, “Karen Hatch, Queen of the Swap Shop,” they had been re-appropriated. A few days later, she brought magic markers and masking tape to make signs for the shelves in the little building. She’d only made a few signs before they too magically disappeared! She tells me all of this with a shrug and a smile. If there’s one rule of the Swap Shop you have to remember, it’s that everything is up for grabs.
To the crew at the China Transfer Station, Karen Hatch is a godsend. With the heavy traffic the shop receives, keeping it organized is nearly an impossible task. “We just don’t have that kind of time to dedicate to the building,” says Grotton. “It gets to the point where [donations are] three feet high – with the clothes and stuff – and we got to go in and clean the whole thing right out.”
That has changed since Karen took over. “We haven’t had to touch it in three weeks,” Grotton says, clearly pleased with the change. And Karen is making it easier for Swap Shop visitors to find something useful. “A lot of residents use that place,” continues Grotton, “and she’s cut their time in half because everything is sorted. Everybody used to go in and pick all through the clothes and throw them on the floor. Now, they can go right to their size – it’s fantastic.”
The newly-organized Swap Shop at the China Transfer Station. (photo by Eric Austin)
An efficient Swap Shop also saves the town money by diverting more items out of the trash stream. “A lot of the stuff that goes out of that building would go into a landfill,” says Grotton. Especially clothing. “We want to keep all the clothing that we can out of the regular hopper.”
To this end, the China Transfer Station has partnered with Apparel Impact, a “textile recovery company” that operates out of New Hampshire. According to their website, clothing makes up close to 10 percent of all trash in local landfills. They have four donation bins located around central Maine, with one of them here at China Transfer Station.
“Last year, we shipped out 6.2 tons of clothing [through Apparel Impact] that would have gone to the landfill,” Grotton says. But he tells me the Swap Shop puts that number to shame. “I’m guessing four times that amount goes through that building there,” he says, nodding toward the Swap Shop. That’s a lot of clothing that isn’t filling up our landfills.
Organizing the clothing as it comes into the Swap Shop increases its efficiency, but even with her organizational superpowers, Karen is just one lady. She’s at the Swap Shop on most afternoons, but she’s eager to find other volunteers, especially someone to monitor the shop in the mornings. If you’re interested in helping her out, send an email to ChinaforaLifetime@gmail.com.
Considering the Swap Shop’s popularity and money-saving success, Station Manager Grotton hopes to apply for a TIF grant that would allow him to add a few building improvements, including running power to the building. Not only would that allow them to install lights in the building, but visitors could then test items that require power before taking them home.
Whatever the future holds for the Swap Shop, Karen Hatch has found a way to make this little corner of China a more pleasant place to visit. Next time you drop by the transfer station, why not check out the Swap Shop and thank her for all her hard work? Maybe you’ll even find something to take home with you, as they say, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” especially when there’s a woman around to organize it.
Eric W. Austin writes about issues important to central Maine exclusively for The Town Line. He can be reached at ericwaustin@townline.org.
Leave your special someone a message in the paper — for FREE! Send us your greeting of 25 words or less to townline@fairpoint.net by February 7 to have it included in the February 13th edition of The Town Line. Use the subject “VALENTINE’S GREETING”.
Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce and KV Connect will host “Meet the Reps,” an event that brings members of the business community and public together with elected officials at all levels of government, Wednesday, February 5, 2020 from 5:30-7 p.m., at Chace Community Forum, located at 150 Main Street, in Waterville (Bill & Joan Alfond Main Street Commons).
The two organizations renewed their partnership for the upcoming legislative session in order to continue to encourage communication between business and community leaders, professionals and young professionals, and their government representatives.
The event is free and open to the public, but registration is appreciated. Please contact Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce at 873-3315 or cindy@midmainechamber.com if you plan to attend. This event is possible thanks to the sponsorship of Central Maine Growth Council and Kennebec Savings Bank.
Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting and advocating for business prosperity and regional economic improvement. Their region includes the towns of Albion, Belgrade, Benton, Branch Mills, Burnham, China, Clinton, Fairfield, Hinckley, Oakland, Rome, Shawmut, Sidney, South China, Thorndike, Unity, Vassalboro, Waterville, Weeks Mills, and Winslow. Legislators and councilors from all of these towns and cities have been invited. For more information on the Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce, including how to become a member, call (207) 873-3315 or visit www.midmainechamber.com.
KV Connect, greater Waterville’s affiliate of the Realize Maine Network, fosters community among young professionals to create economic growth in the region. To learn more about KV Connect, visit www.kvconnect.org or e-mail kvconnectme@gmail.com.
TOCmedia will host three new social media marketing business-breakfast events, “How to Recruit & Retain Top Talent on Social Media.” The series will kick-off on Friday, January 31, at Thomas College, on West River Road, in Waterville.
TOCmedia, the Waterville-based digital marketing firm, has announced the next three upcoming presentations in its popular “Social Media Breakfast Central Maine” (SMBCME) series of business-breakfast presentations. Hosted by Tracy O’Clair, President/CEO of TOCmedia, the social-media marketing business-breakfast series is designed to empower local business, nonprofit, and entrepreneurial marketers. The series is sponsored by The Harold Alfond® Institute for Business Innovation at Thomas College.
Each “Social Media Breakfast Central Maine” presentation will spotlight 2020’s best practices in social-media marketing, as revealed by a speaker from one of Maine’s most marketing-savvy business organizations or nonprofits.
The first presentation, on Friday, January 31, will feature Rob Gould and Katie Denoia, Director of Public Relations and Strategic Communications Specialist, respectively, at WEX Inc., who will speak on the topic “How to Recruit & Retain Top Talent on Social Media.” Rob and Katie will reveal today’s most savvy social-media tactics for highlighting your organization’s culture, increasing engagement with great future employees, and showcasing why you offer a great place to work.
Subsequent Winter 2020 SMBCME speakers will be Anthony Ronzio, Director of Digital Strategy at Colby College, who will present “Going Digital in a Physical World” on Friday, February 28; and Luke Labree, Chief Marketing Officer at Dennis Paper & Food Service, speaking on the topic “The Secret to a Successful Social Media Strategy” on Friday, March 27. Each of the SMBCME speakers was carefully selected for his/ her distinctive talent, social media expertise, and ability to illuminate and share empowering advice and insights to marketers in today’s rapid-paced, constantly changing digital-marketing landscape.
Each SMBCME event will be held in the Spann Student Commons, at Thomas College, 180 West River Road, in Waterville. Advance registration and payment of $15 is recommended for your convenience at http://Social-Media-Breakfast-Central-Maine.eventbrite.com. The admission fee includes breakfast and coffee, plus a 30-minute business-networking opportunity from 7:30 to 8 a.m. For more information, please visit www.Thomas.edu/haibi or call Tracy O’Clair at (207) 512-0532.
Tracy O’Clair, President/CEO of TOCmedia and a certified Constant Contact solutions provider, founded her digital marketing firm in 2009 and launched the “Social Media Breakfast Central Maine” series of educational presentations in 2014. TOCmedia serves businesses and other organizations who want to successfully spotlight their brand, enhance their growth, and heighten their visibility through social-media marketing management, email marketing, digital advertising, and blogging solutions. For more information, please visit https://toc-media.com/ .
Named for Maine’s premiere entrepreneur and innovator, The Harold Alfond® Institute for Business Innovation at Thomas College has been established to spur economic vitality in Central Maine by nurturing the very talent that will assist in the creation of both jobs and wealth for the area. The institute provides the platforms from which instruction, training, events, mentoring, and access to talent are all made available within the context of entrepreneurship and innovation. For more information, please visit www.thomas.edu/institute.