Covers towns roughly within 50 miles of Augusta.

Chamber hosts re-vamped Super Raffle dinner

Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce’s Super Raffle Dinner, is back, with a new venue, and re-energized format. The annual dinner will be hosted on Thursday, September 30, at The Elm, College Avenue, Waterville. This year’s event, titled A Night at the Lodge, is sponsored by Maine State Credit Union, and will begin with a social hour at 5:00 p.m., followed by dinner and drawings at 6:30 p.m. Dinner will be provided by the team of The Parsonage House and the Heritage House, with a cash bar provided by Proper Pig.

The ticket price of $125 includes dinner for two, one prize and a gift from Maine State Credit Union. Everyone wins a prize. Drawings begin with prizes valued at a minimum of $25 and grow as the drawings proceed. Top cash prizes are $750, $1,500, and $3,000. There is also a 2nd Chance Cash drawing of $500 and Plinko wheel prizes.

Chamber member businesses are encouraged to donate a raffle prize. To donate, or to purchase a ticket, contact the Chamber at 873.3315 or Cindy@midmainechamber.com.

2021 additional event sponsors are: Bar Harbor Bank and Trust, Central Maine Motors Auto Group, Choice Wealth Advisors and New Dimensions Federal Credit Union.

See the yellow shirts? Please stop and give a donation

by Jeanne Marquis

This is a story of a group of people who saw a need in Kennebec County and are rising to the challenge to create their own solution. The local chapter of Young People In Recovery (YPR) have long felt a need for a community recovery center within the county. In Maine, not every county has a recovery community center and Kennebec County, despite being the seat of our state’s capitol, is one of those counties. The need is great, not just in Augusta, but also in the rural areas throughout Kennebec County.

According to the Maine Drug Data Hub, found at mainedrugdata.org, Kennebec County has already had 41 drug overdose deaths between January through July of 2021. To put that into perspective, that number is nearly the total for the entire year of 2019 and we are only half way through the year.

The passage of LD488 “to expand recovery community organizations throughout Maine” spurred the local YPR into action because they understand in order to qualify for future funding they must create a center first. A recovery community center serves as a gathering place for many pathways to recovery and run by independent, nonprofit organizations. Contrary to what some may think, it is not a treatment or residential center. What visitors will receive is peer support from people who understand substance use disorder and a sense of belonging without judgment. Some of the established recovery community centers in Maine such as the Portland Recovery Community Center (PRCC) and Bangor Area Recovery Network (BARN) offer recovery coaches, yoga classes and educational workshops.

As this story unfolds, it’s also a story of organizations combining their efforts toward a common goal. Courtney Allen, a member of YPR, found a potential rental space for the proposed recovery community center. Allen reached out to partner with related area organizations: Maine Prisoner Reentry Network (MPRN), Maine Recovery Advocacy Project (ME-RAP) and Fresh Out Sober Living. These organizations are working together to launch the center under the name Augusta Recovery Re-entry Center (ARRC) to serve all of Kennebec County. The collaboration of these organizations provides the knowledge and structure necessary to run a recovery center.

The remaining immediate need is to generate funding to cover a full year’s rent and programing costs. To accomplish this goal, the local YPR members will be out in their bright yellow shirts every Saturday from 11:30 a.m. – 3 p.m., throughout September. They will be at the following locations on these dates:

Sept. 4, Gardiner Bridge; Sept. 11, Augusta Target; Sept. 18, Augusta Walmart; Sept. 25, Gardiner Bridge.

Several YPR members were out fundraising in front of the Augusta Walmart on Saturday, August 28. Natasha told us why this project was meaningful to her, “I’m supportive of him (she pointed to her significant other Jacob Foster who is the fundraising lead) I watched him go through it and he has come a long way. I’m very proud of him.”

John Clark explained the urgency for the center, “We are fundraising for a recovery center so people in recovery and also people in active addiction can get help and be around like minded people. We’re trying to get a hold of all the resources all in one facility. When word of mouth gets around, I think we’ll be able to save lives. You have all these people O.D.-ing. It’s just terrible. It’s every week now.”

Bobby Payzant (his friends call him Paco) told us why he was out fundraising, “I’m a person who has been affected by addiction. Not just me, I’ve lost a family member due to addiction. I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.”

For more information about how to donate, please contact Jacob Foster, YPR fundraising lead, at 207-242-2862. Donate bottles for recycling at Damon’s on Bangor Street in Augusta and label each bag clearly with the number 73.

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Schools – Part 1

Hodgkins School

by Mary Grow

There are four school buildings in the central Kennebec Valley that are on the National Register of Historic Places, two in Augusta and one each in Winslow and Waterville.

Winslow’s Brick Schoolhouse has already been described, in the Jan. 28 issue of The Town Line. The old Cony High School, in Augusta, now the Cony Flatiron Building, will be a future subject.

This piece will describe Augusta’s Ella R. Hodgkins Intermediate School, later called Hodgkins Middle School, and the old Waterville High School, later the Gilman Street School.

The Hodgkins School served students in seventh and eighth grades (one source adds sixth grade) from 1958 to 2009. when the students were moved to a new high school building. The application for National Register status, prepared by Matthew Corbett, of Sutherland Conservation and Consulting, in Augusta, is dated Feb. 26, 2015. The building was added to the register the same year.

The former school, now called Hodgkins School Apartments on the Google map, is at 17 Malta Street, on a 20-acre lot in a residential neighborhood. Malta Street is on the east side of the Kennebec River, northeast of Cony Street and southeast of South Belfast Avenue (Route 105).

Originally designated the East Side Intermediate School, when the building was finished it was dedicated to former Augusta teacher Ella R. Hodgkins. She is listed in the 1917 annual report of the Augusta Board of Education as a Gorham Normal School graduate teaching at the Farrington School.

Corbett described the Hodgkins School as significant both for its architecture and because it was “associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history.”

Architecturally, he described the school as exemplifying the Modern Movement; it illustrated “the most recent trends in design and construction.” In terms of historical significance, Corbett wrote that the school was an element of “community planning and development, specifically the town-wide development of educational facilities.”

Augusta architects Bunker and Savage designed the “sprawling” building, Corbett wrote. It rose a single story above the ground and was almost 440 feet long, shaped like an E without a center bar.

The foundation was concrete blocks. The roof was flat; the windows Corbett called “aluminum ribbon sash and glass block.”

Both wings had full basements, giving them two useable floors, the lower partly below ground level, Corbett wrote. The boiler room and the shop classroom were attached on the northeast.

He described the arrangement of corridors, classrooms, offices, bathrooms and other spaces inside. The school had a combination gymnasium and cafeteria, with a stage, and an adjoining kitchen. The grounds provided space for a basketball court and softball and soccer fields.

In the 1950s, concrete blocks, aluminum and glass block windows were examples of modern materials, Corbett wrote. The Hodgkins School was also modern in its emphasis on “natural light and proper ventilation”; architectural drawings “included detailed ventilation and electrical specifications, large windows and skylights, as well as advanced mechanical systems for heating and cooling.”

Hodgkins was the third of three schools built during what Corbett said was “a decade long school building program that updated and consolidated Augusta’s schools to accommodate the post-World War II baby boom.”

He continued, “As the second intermediate school constructed in the city, the Hodgkins School represents the conclusion of the city’s effort to create modern elementary school buildings.”

The first two schools built under the city’s 1953 plan were Lillian Parks Hussey Elementary School (opened in September 1954) and Lou M. Buker Intermediate School (opened in September 1956).

While the Parks and Buker schools have been substantially altered, “The Ella R. Hodgkins Intermediate School retains historic integrity of location, design, setting, material, workmanship, feeling and association,” Corbett wrote.

* * * * * *

Old Waterville High School

Waterville’s Gilman Street School began life as a high school (Waterville’s second, Wikipedia says; the first was built in 1876). It became a junior high, then a technical college and is currently, like the Hodgkins School, an apartment building.

Gilman Street School was added to the National Register in 2010. The application by Amy Cole Ives and Melanie Smith, also of Sutherland Conservation and Consulting, is dated June 11, 2010.

The Maine Memory Network offers an on-line summary of the building’s history. Ives and Smith added details in their application.

The central block at 21 Gilman Street, facing south, was started in 1909 and finished in 1912 as Waterville High School. In 1936, a wing was added on the west side for manual arts classes; and in 1938-1939. a gymnasium and auditorium were added on the east side.

The last senior class graduated in 1963, and the building became Waterville Junior High School.

Meanwhile, Kennebec Valley Vocational Technical Institute (KVVTI), started in the (new) Waterville High School building with 35 students for the 1970-71 school year, rapidly expanded enrollment and course offerings. In 1977, KVVTI rented the Gilman Street building from the City of Waterville; the first courses were taught there in 1978, although some classes stayed at Waterville High School until 1983.

The Memory Network writer said that to save money, vocational students did some of the repairs and renovations the Gilman Street building needed.

KVVTI outgrew its new space, too, and by 1986 had completed the move to its current Fairfield location – a process that took six years, the Memory Network writer said.

The Gilman Street building housed educational offices and served other public and private purposes until Coastal Enterprises Inc. “in conjunction with a developers’ collaborative” turned it into an apartment building named Gilman Place. Its introductory open house was held May 11, 2011, as the first tenants moved in.

Ives and Smith said the original part of the building was designed by Freeman Funk and Wilcox, of Brookline, Massachusetts. The school is one of only a “few known examples of educational architecture” by that group, Wikipedia adds.

Ives and Smith called the school’s architecture “simplified collegiate gothic style.” All three sections are brick with cast stone trim.

The first building, Ives and Smith wrote, is a “symmetrical central three-story five-bay building.” The doors are in the two end bays; the central bays had windows on all three stories.

The doors described in 2010 “had Tudor gothic door surrounds with a four-centered pointed arch, white painted paneled intrados, and flush modern replacement doors with multi-light transoms.” Above each door is an arch over a stone sculpture: on the west, an eagle, wings spread wide, above the City of Waterville seal, and on the east an identical eagle above the Maine State seal.

Centered at the top of the building is a decorative stone rectangle with the words “Waterville High School.”

The 1930s additions were partly financed by the federal Works Progress Administration and were designed by Bunker and Savage of Augusta. Each wing is narrower and lower than the original building, and its front projects out slightly from the main building.

The exterior materials were chosen to match the original building, but Ives and Smith documented stylistic differences.

Of the west wing, they wrote, “Designed with more of the Art Deco influence of the 1920s-30s, the Manual Arts Building was simpler in massing and more streamlined in decoration than the original building.”

The east wing is more elaborate than the west. Ives’ and Smith’s description included a “substantial projecting stylized Tudor gothic tri-partite entrance,” framed by “cast stone quoins,” with its doors “recessed within gothic arched door surrounds” under “three original trios of four-over-six double hung lancet windows.”

They continued, “A cast-stone Tudor arch at the cornice level is elaborated by two round relief sculpture plaques of athletic themes (football and basketball) on either side; the arch fascia is infilled with fancy relief scrolls.”

In this wing, the combination gym and auditorium had an 84-by-68-foor basketball court in the middle; 15 “graduated rows of elevated seating” above the entrance in the south wall; and a 36-by-24-foot stage, with dressing rooms on each side, under a “painted wood Tudor gothic arch” along the north wall. “The aisle-end of each seating row is elaborately carved and painted art deco design,” Ives and Smith wrote.

Showers and locker rooms were in the basement below the stage.

Ives and Smith concluded that the Gilman Street School deserved National Register status for two reasons: its architecture, and its role in illustrating, with its 1930s additions, changes in education, specifically adding courses for non-college-bound students and accommodating increased enrollment.

They concluded, “[T]he property retains integrity of location, design, setting, material, workmanship, feeling and association and has a period of significance from 1909-1940.”

* * * * * *

For readers who wonder when this series will describe the district elementary schools that for years provided all the education many residents got, the answer is, “Not until the next writer takes over.”

The subject is much too complex for yours truly. Many local histories cover it, some writers basing their information on old town reports that contained detailed annual reports on each district.

Kingsbury wrote in his Kennebec County history that what is now Augusta was divided into eight school districts in 1787, 10 years before it separated from Hallowell. Eventually, he found, there were 27 districts.

The China bicentennial history has a map showing locations or presumed locations of schoolhouses in the town’s 22 districts. Sidney started with 10 districts in 1792; lost one to Belgrade in a 1799 boundary change; and by 1848 had 19, Alice Hammond wrote in her history of that town.

Millard Howard found detailed information on Palermo’s 17 districts for his “Introduction to the Early History of Palermo, Maine”. Windsor’s highest number was 15 in 1866-67, according to C. Arlene Barton Gilbert’s chapter on education in Linwood Lowden’s town history.

The authors of the Fairfield bicentennial history didn’t even try to count theirs. Three paragraphs on pre-1966 elementary schools in town included this statement: “There were many divisions of the Town into districts for school management by agents” before state law changed the district system in 1893.

Alma Pierce Robbins summarized the difficulty of describing town primary schools in her Vassalboro history: “In 1839 the School Committee was directed to make a large plan of the twenty-two School Districts. They did, but it was of little value. The next year there were many changes and another school opened.”

Gilman Place

An undated, but recent, online piece by Developers Collaborative begins: “Gilman Place has structurally preserved and bestowed new life into a vacant neighborhood treasure, while repurposing it as affordable workforce housing for area families.”

The article says there are “35 affordable apartments in walking distance from the city’s award winning downtown. Gilman Place is an example of smart growth development simultaneously addressing two concerns many Waterville residents shared: how to preserve and reuse the former Gilman School as well as the need for more quality apartments in Waterville.”

Gilman Place won the 2011 Maine Preservation Honor Award, the piece says. It says state and federal tax credits helped the project, and quotes recently-retired City Manager Mike Roy calling the reuse of the building “one of the best success stories in the city in the last 25 years.”

Correction & Expansion of one of last week’s boxed items

The update on the First Amendment Museum should have said that it was 2015, not 1915, when Eugenie Gannet (Mrs. David Quist) and her sister Terry Gannett Hopkins bought the Gannett family home on State Street, in Augusta, that now houses the museum. The same wrong date was in the account of the Gannett printing and publishing businesses in the Nov. 12, 2020, issue of The Town Line.

The First Amendment Museum website says the Pat and John Gannett Family Foundation bought the building. The foundation is named for Eugenie’s and Terry’s parents, Patricia Randall Gannett and John Howard Gannett.

They met in Florida when he was assigned there as an Army lieutenant during World War II and married July 5, 1943. Patricia Gannett died Feb. 12, 2013, at the age of 91; John Gannett died July 16, 2020, at the age of 100.

[Editor’s Note: The online versions have been corrected.]

Main sources

Corbett, Matthew, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, Ella R. Hodgkins Intermediate School, Feb. 26, 2015, supplied by the Maine Historic Preservation Commission.
Ives, Amy Cole, and Melanie Smith, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, Waterville High School (former), June 11, 2010, supplied by the Maine Historic Preservation Commission.

Websites, miscellaneous.

Scouting lets you escape the inside

Gabriel Daniel Lawyerson, of Troop #216. (contributed photo)

by Chuck Mahaleris

This Fall, as students go indoors back to school, the local Scouts will be inviting those students to join them as they “Escape the Inside.” The Membership Recruitment theme “Escape the Inside” will be used on promotional material such as fliers, posters, and lawn signs as a way of informing youth and their parents that Scouting plans to deliver fun programs in outdoor settings.

“A boy is not a sitting-down animal,” – Robert Baden-Powell, Founder of Scouting.

“Scouting works best when we bring the Scouts into the outdoors,” said Kennebec Valley District of Scouting Vice Chairman Chuck Mahaleris, of Augusta. “Our Cub Packs, Scout Troops and Venture Crews have been busy all summer long having adventures. Scouts in this area spent their summer camping, hiking, shooting at the archery range, biking, canoeing, kayaking, and challenging themselves.

They didn’t get a lot of time to sit down. They learned about cooking over an open fire and how to save someone’s life in the woods. Some of our Scouts went white water rafting and many spent part of their summer helping their community. In September, our Cub Packs, Scout Troops and Venture Crews will be opening their doors to new members- youth who are tired of sitting around and want to get outside and have fun and do things.”

The three largest parts of Scouting are:

Cub Scouting which is fun for the whole family of boys and girls in grades K-5. It’s fun, hands-on learning and achievement that puts kids in the middle of the action and prepares them for today – and for life.

The next level is Scouts BSA which is for boys and girls ages 11-17 and is the traditional Scouting experience for youth in the fifth grade through high school. Service, community engagement and leadership development become increasingly important parts of the program as youth lead their own activities and work their way toward earning Scouting’s highest rank, Eagle Scout.

Venturing is for teens age 14-20 and perfect for those kids looking for the next mountain to climb.

There will be Scouting sign up opportunities in every town and fliers will be distributed to students where allowed, and here are the contacts for the Scouting program in your area.

The Kennebec Valley District of Scouting, which covers Somerset, Lincoln, Knox, Kennebec and Franklin Counties, will also be adding Sea Scouting and Exploring programs later this year.

“Lord Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting worldwide, said ‘the open air is the real objective of Scouting and the key to its success.’ Our Scouting leaders are eager to get the youth in their programs out into the great outdoors of our state and let the Scouting shine,” Mahaleris said.

Maritime Energy president, Susan Ware Page, nominated for NEFI Legends Award

Susan Page Ware

The National Energy & Fuels Institute (NEFI) announced its slate of Legends Award honorees to pay tribute to energy industry leaders in each state for 2021. Susan Ware Page, President of Maritime Energy, was selected for this honor in 2021 and will represent the State of Maine at the awards dinner in September of this year in Connecticut.

NEFI Legends Awards are presented to those who are industry pioneers and leaders whose experience and dedication serve as an example for all those in the heating and energy trades. In 2021, NEFI will feature an all-woman slate of honorees in recognition of the tremendous impact and leadership that women have made on the industry.

“I am thrilled to be selected as an honoree for this prestigious industry award. It is a great honor to be nominated and represent the energy industry and the State of Maine at this event.” – Susan Ware Page, President of Maritime Energy

NEFI has worked to strengthen and advance the market for liquid heating fuels through innovation, policy, education, and advocacy since 1942. The organization works at the local and national level to promote main street businesses and their efforts in efficiency, conservation, and safety. In addition to being a full service trade association, NEFI has developed the NEFI Education Foundation, Inc. a 501(c)3 non-profit organization to conduct industry research and provide education to its members.

Maritime Energy is a full service, locally owned family energy company serving Knox, Lincoln, Waldo, Hancock, and Kennebec counties. Services include heating, cooling, and plumbing installations, maintenance and repair. Maritime’s fuel products include heating oil, K-1, diesel, propane, and gasoline. As part of Maritime Energy’s fuel price protection programs, it offers participants up to 5¢ off each gallon of gasoline purchased at a Maritime Farms convenience store.

For more information or to find a fuel office or Maritime Farms store visit: https://www.maritimeenergy.com or call 1-800-333-4489. The company currently has 5 fuel offices including the main office in Rockland, Maine, and 13 Maritime Farms convenience stores throughout Midcoast and Central Maine.

Mid-Maine Big Brothers Big Sisters receive grant to launch “Bigs with Badges” in Augusta

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mid-Maine has received a generous $30,000 Innovation Grant from United Way of Kennebec Valley (UWKV) to help launch a new program linking local law enforcement one-to-one with Augusta youth. The new program, called Bigs with Badges, is a collaborative partnership matching students from Sylvio J. Gilbert Elementary School (Littles) with Augusta Police Department law enforcement and first responders (Bigs), in long-term relationships that support local kids facing adversity.

“We are incredibly honored and excited to be a recipient of United Way of Kennebec Valley’s Innovation Grant,” BBBS of Mid-Maine Executive Director Gwendolyn Hudson said. “Through this unique, collaborative partnership, our new Bigs with Badges program, the first of its kind in Maine, will match police and other mentors in law-enforcement, with children, creating positive, one-to-one relationships that will no doubt ignite the power and promise of local youth.”

The program also aims to prevent children from seeing law enforcement as an adversary. Courtney Yeager, UWKV executive director, said BBBS of Mid-Maine’s innovative program helps address entrenched issues with a novel solution that is both collaborative and effective.

Big and Little matches between local youth and law enforcement, like this one in Birmingham, Alabama, will be made in Maine for the first time, as part of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mid-Maine’s new mentoring program Bigs with Badges. BBBS of Mid-Maine was recently awarded a generous $30,000 Innovation Grant from United Way of Kennebec Valley to help launch the new initiative that links Augusta Police one-to-one with students at Sylvio J. Gilbert Elementary School, in Augusta.

China LakeSmart Program: Let’s Talk Lawns

photo by Eric Austin

The Challenge As a general rule, lawns don’t provide lake protection equivalent to other highly vegetated areas. Rainwater easily flows over lawns, and the tiny grass roots cannot hold soil together. Substantial erosion often occurs over lawns, even if no soil loss is noticeable. When nutrient rich soil reaches our lakes, there can be major consequences to lake health. However, with proper maintenance and design, landowners can have lawns while mitigating these lake-harming effects.

A lakefront property can maintain a beautiful lawn, while still being Lakesmart. These property owners include a large natural buffer between the lake and the lawn, add a defined narrow path, and strategically slope the lawn to avoid erosion. Additionally, they avoid fertilizers, and leave lawn clippings in place.

What to Do? Protecting your lake from lawn runoff requires quick infiltration into the ground. There are several ways to infiltrate lawn runoff effectively. Read on to learn more about what you can do.

Love your lakeshore buffer: There is no substitute for an effective vegetated buffer lakeside of the lawn. A multi-tiered buffer infiltrates runoff while holding the lake shore in place. Encourage native vegetation in the buffer and allow pine needles and leaves to accumulate.
Maintain your narrow, meandering path: The footpath from your lawn to the lake should not become a channel for water flow. Keep your footpath narrow and be sure it quickly diverts water off the path and into the buffer. Allow pine needles and leaves to accumulate on the path.
Where the slope is moderate or severe, consider infiltration steps as part of the path: Infiltration steps will stop water flow down a slope when fast-running runoff would otherwise cause havoc. It will also make walking your path safer.
Slope your lawn strategically: Keep lawn runoff away from the footpath, if possible, by sloping the lawn so water flows directly into an adjacent vegetated buffer.
Mow your lawn using the highest mower setting and leave clippings to mulch in place: Both techniques stimulate turf development, making your lawn more drought resistant. Clippings feed the lawn, eliminating any need to use fertilizer. (Maine soils contain enough phosphorous to sustain lawns without fertilizer in any event.) And longer grass maximizes its resistance to flowing water.

For more information about making your property more lake-friendly, contact Christian Oren at the Lakes Environmental Association. Christian can be reached at 207-647-8580 and christian@leamaine.org.

If you would like to have a trained China LakeSmart volunteer visit your lakefront property to give you ideas that would help to protect the lake from harmful runoff, please contact us at ChinaLakeSmart@gmail.com. The Youth Conservation Corp can offer assistance to help with any Best Management Practices!

Noël Bonam named new state director of AARP Maine

Noël Bonam

AARP Maine has announced that Noël Bonam joins the organization as the new state director. He succeeds Lori Parham, who served in the role for nearly ten years and accepted a new position in AARP’s national Government Affairs office in May.

Noël Bonam brings extensive experience in leadership development, stakeholder engagement, diversity, equity and inclusion practice and civic leadership. Before joining AARP, Bonam had been the head of The Global Institute, a public benefit organization (with operational hubs in Denmark, India and the US), specializing in social equity, leadership development and organizational sustainability.

“I am thrilled to join AARP and look forward to being a forceful voice on behalf of its 200,000 members in the state and all Mainers 50 and older,” said Bonam. “This is the opportunity of a lifetime to advance the quality of life of older people in our state and cultivate appreciation of the important contributions that we make to our community. I look forward to leading AARP’s vital work to build livable, age-friendly communities and to fostering social connection and inclusion..”

Bonam has worked extensively with diverse partners from across the world, particularly in the public and not-for-profit sectors. Formerly, he was the Director for the Bureau of Multicultural Affairs for the State of Maine. In that role, he oversaw systemic changes through diversity, equity and inclusion efforts by working closely with inter-departmental stakeholders and with key community partners from across the state. He practices collaborative facilitative leadership and is committed to stakeholder engagement and empowerment, long-term sustainability and dialogue for action.

LETTERS: Seniors program does incredible work

To the editor:

As the Senior Program Director of Spectrum Generations, the Area Agency on Aging that serves six counties in central Maine, I get to see firsthand the incredible work this organization does to support Maine’s disabled and aging population.

During the month of May, our community case managers provided social work services to 261 seniors and adults with disabilities, additionally, Spectrum Generations manages the finances for 80 of those most in need.

Through the Adult Day & Community Support program, 35 staff members at four of our facilities provided 1,434 hours of center-based care, and 1,817 hours of individual care to 67 people. This program creates a path to community inclusion and employment for consumers and it provides a safe place so family caregivers can work.

Our staff and dedicated volunteers also prepared and delivered 29,866 meals through the Meals on Wheels Program, and our Community Services staff provided support to 763 people calling for help.

Here at Spectrum Generations, our mission is to promote and advance the well-being and independence of older and disabled adults, with the support of their care partners, to live in their community of choice. I am proud to report that, thanks to our hardworking staff and caring volunteers, the month of May was an incredibly productive one.

If you would like to get involved, or you have any questions about the services that we provide, please give us a call at (800) 639-1553 or visit us online at www.spectrumgenerations.org.

Nate Miller, Senior Program Director
Spectrum Generations

Mid-Maine Chamber golf fundraiser draws many players

First place gross, Damon’s Beverage, Jeff Damon, Mark McGowan, Flint Collier and Luke Collier. (contributed photo)

Central Maine’s most prize-laden golf tournament fundraiser was held under clear skies on Monday, June 21, at Natanis Golf Course, in Vassalboro. Thirty-five teams took part in the shotgun start scramble.

Nearly 50 businesses provided sponsorships or in-kind donations for the tournament.

“We were thrilled with the participation in this year’s event once again – and had a waiting list of teams wishing to participate,” said Kim Lindlof, president & CEO of Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce. “We were also happy that the weather cooperated, with a beautiful Chamber of Commerce day of sunshine and an enjoyable day for all involved.”

Prize Winners:

Summer Sizzler BBQ Package: Gary Levesque, New York Life.

50/50 Winner: Andrew Dailey, Bar Harbor Bank & Trust.

First Place Gross Team Score: Damon’s Beverage—Jeff Damon, Mark McGowan, Flint Collier, Luke Collier.

Second Place Gross Team Score: Pine Tree Cellular—Marc Girard, Glen Pound, Tim Merwin, Trevor Olivadoti.

Third Place Gross Team Score: Skowhegan Savings—Brian Fitzpatrick, Sam Hight, Adam Orser, Lou Hight.

First Place Net Team Score: Bar Harbor Bank & Trust—Jennifer Seekins, Jeff Charland, Mark Breton, Andrew Dailey.

Second Place Net Team Score: Maine State Credit Union-Team 2—Matt Doane, Michelle Martin, Keith McPherson.

Third Place Net Team Score: Pepsi Co.—Tony Dessent, Mark Watson, Roger Williams, Chris Low.

Longest Drive—Hole #15: Male: Adam Orser—Skowhegan Savings; Female: Theresa Thompson—Standard Waterproofing.

Closest to the Pin—Hole #4 and #7: Steve Whitney—Cornerstone Insurance.

Closest to the Pin—Hole #10: Jeff Meinhert—Paul White Co.

Closest to the Pin—Hole #13: Trevor Fogarty—AAA Northern New England.

Highest Team Score: Standard Waterproofing—Isaac Thompson, Theresa Thompson, Tom Michaud, Marie Michaud.

  Chairman of the Chamber Golf Classic Committee, Rick Whalen added, “We would like to thank all of the area businesses for their participation – whether with posting a team, providing volunteers or in-kind donations, or being a sponsor. Your support makes this a successful fundraiser.”

The Mid-Maine Chamber Golf Classic is made possible by major sponsors Central Maine Power and Maine State Credit Union and multiple additional sponsors.

First place net, Bar Harbor Bank & Trust, Jennifer Seekins, Jeff Charland, Mark Breton and Andrew Dailey. Names not necessarily in order. (contributed photo)