Mid-Maine Chamber hosting super raffle

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The Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce will be hosting the Coldwell Banker Plourde Super Raffle on October 3, at the Waterville Elks Lodge, 76 Industrial Street, Waterville. In celebration of Coldwell Banker Plourde Real Estate doing business for 30 years in the Waterville area, hundreds of prizes have been donated by Chamber member businesses. The event will begin with a social hour at 5 p.m., followed by dinner at 6:30 p.m. Tickets may be purchased by contacting the Chamber at 207.873.3315 or programs@midmainechamber.com. Tickets are limited.

2019 Event sponsors: Coldwell Banker Plourde Real Estate, Bar Harbor Bank and Trust, Choice Wealth Advisors and New Dimensions Federal Credit Union.

ABOUT THE CHAMBER: Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce is dedicated and committed to promoting, educating and advocating for business prosperity and regional economic improvement. Its membership region includes Albion, Belgrade, Benton, Burnham, China, Clinton, Fairfield, Hinckley, Oakland, Rome, Shawmut, Sidney, South China, Thorndike, Unity, Vassalboro, Waterville, Weeks Mills and Winslow. For more information call 873-3315 or visit www.midmainechamber.com.

Kennebec retired educators support classrooms

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The Kennebec Retired Educators Association (KREA) is awarding two $150 grants to two educators in Kennebec County for classroom use. The grants will supplement expenses for student-centered, inter-disciplinary projects and may be expended for materials used in the classroom, speakers’ fees, project development and related travel expenses, etc.

Grant criteria and applications have been disseminated to every principal in all elementary, middle, and high schools. The principals have made them available to the classroom teachers. Grant applications are to be submitted by October 30 to George Davis, committee chairperson. The winning applicants will be notified by December 1 and will receive the grant money at that time.

“Students remain our primary focus long after we leave our classrooms,” says George Davis of Skowhegan, chairperson of the Innovative Classroom Grant Committee and retired principal of Winslow High School.

KREA is comprised of retired educators from 60 schools in 31 cities and towns. In an effort to give back to the schools where they taught for many years, members of KREA also participate in the annual statewide “Day of Caring” volunteerism program that assists teachers every August in preparing for the opening day of school. Teachers in many Kennebec County schools have benefited from their assistance.

Further information may be obtained from George Davis at 207-612-2639.

Kennebec Federal Savings named to “Best Places to Work in Maine” list for sixth straight year

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For the sixth year in a row, Kennebec Federal Savings has been named to the list of “Best Places to Work in Maine” by The Maine State Council of the national Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM).

Established in 2006, The “Best Places to Work in Maine” Awards recognize small, medium-sized, and large organizations that consistently cultivate outstanding workplace environments. The organization that manages the program, Best Companies Group, compiles information and data from all registered organizations, particularly focusing on each company’s workplace policies and employee benefits, along with responses from employees to a comprehensive satisfaction survey.

“All of us at Kennebec Federal Savings are honored to be recognized for the 6th year in a row as a Best Places to Work in Maine company,” said Allan Rancourt, President of Kennebec Federal Savings. “Kudos to the great team at KFS for making this a great place to work. Congratulations to all the 2019 Best Places to Work in Maine companies.”

The “Best Places to Work in Maine” winners—split into company-size categories and ranked up to the #1 winner—will be revealed at a special Awards Celebration on Wednesday, October 2, at the Augusta Civic Center. A complete list of the top companies will be featured in a statewide publication produced by Mainebiz: Maine’s Business News Source.

Kennebec Historical Society honors archivist Plummer

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The Kennebec Historical Society’s Personnel Committee has picked longtime archivist Ernest L. Plummer, of Pittston, as the first recipient of the society’s newly-established W. Scott Hill Service Award.

Plummer resigned this month after having volunteered in a variety of KHS positions over 16 years, including two terms as president. He and his wife, Joan, plan to move closer to his daughter’s family in Massachusetts.

Ernest L. Plummer

A native of Buffalo, New York, and a retired industrial chemist, Plummer has upgraded and maintained the KHS collections database, enabling catalogers to embed photographs and scanned images or original written documents into the record. The improvement in quality and quantity of society holdings has effectively opened KHS files to many more researchers seeking to learn more about some aspect of Kennebec County history.

Plummer became KHS vice president in 2007 and was elected to two-year terms as president in 2009 and in 2013. Under his leadership, the society pressed forward with efforts to retire the $190,000 mortgage on its present home, the Henry Weld Fuller Jr. house in Augusta, a goal that was achieved less than four years later. He also has been the society’s executive director and treasurer, and he recruited his wife to manage the society’s membership database, which she has done for several years.

He also spent much of his time assisting researchers and fostering cooperative relationships with other historical societies in the county. He clocked several hundred volunteer hours per year for the society’s benefit. As he winds up his years of service, he is training six volunteers to carry on his work of cataloging materials in the database.

For these achievements and others, the KHS Personnel Committee selected Plummer for the Hill award, which was established this year to honor society members who have initiated or organized landmark improvements in the society’s operation, reputation or contributions to the community. The award is named for W. Scott Hill, an Augusta physician who was one of the society’s co-founders and its first president.

The 560-member Kennebec Historical Society, a private, nonprofit organization, was founded in 1891. Its mission is to collect, preserve and make available to the public historical documents and illustrations that pertain to the history of Kennebec County and its 30 municipalities. The society hosts monthly historical lectures in a variety of locations in the county.

For more information, please contact KHS Administrative Director Scott Wood at 622-7718.

Lasell University Welcomes New Students 2019

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Lasell University, in Newton, Massachusetts, welcomed more than 580 new students to its Newton, Massachusetts campus this month.

Mya Maxim, of South China, became a psychology student at Lasell this fall.

Dylan Presby, of South China, became a sport management student at Lasell this fall.

Winslow youth football grades 5/6 team 2019 season

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Front row, from left to right, Bryce Whitman, Addison Duplessie, Emma Rodrigue, Nolan Bell, Cody Land, Austin Land, Trevor Tibbetts and Dan Ouellette. Middle row, Broddik Bimpson, Lucas Spencer, Patrick Loubier, Nick McCann, Liem Fortin, Brody Davidson, Saunders Chase, Cameron Waterhouse, Ben Thomas and Damian Welch. Back row, Coach Roger Buker, Coach PJ Lessard, Coach Erik Davidson and Coach Joe Gorman. (Photo courtesy of Central Maine Photography)

Winslow youth football grades 3/4 team 2019 season

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Front row, from left to right, Levi Elwell, Liam McKenney, Owen Vigue, Jacoby Bragdon, Lucas Bailey, Lucas Cormier and Scott LeClair. Middle row, Cooper Farr, Tim Knowles, Ben Allen, Isaac Bulgee, John Kesaris, Cohan Swoveland, Freddie Ouellette and Michael Loubier. Back row, Coach Lindquist, Jaxson Lizzotte, Ben Bragg, Terrance Reffett, Thomas Turbovsky and Brysen Bouchard.Absent from photo, Maddox Lambert, Zander Dickey and Coach Michael DeRoche. (Photo by Missy Brown, Central Maine Photography staff)

Food service program feeds community kids

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Alfond Youth & Community Center provides meals in three locations

The Alfond Youth & Community Center (AYCC) is participating in the Child and Adult Care Food Program to make evening meals available at no separate charge to children ages birth through 18 years without regard to race, color, national origin, age, disability, sex, gender identity, religion, reprisal, and where applicable, political beliefs, marital status, familial or parental status, sexual orientation, or all or part of an individual’s income is derived from any public assistance program, or protected genetic information in employment or in any program or activity conducted or funded by the Department.

Meals are being served at the following facilities:

Alfond Youth & Community Center, 126 North Street in Waterville. Mon. – Fri. Evening Meals starting at 3 p.m.;

North End Boys & Girls Club, 16 Hillside Ave in Waterville. Mon.– Fri. Evening Meals starting at 3 p.m.;

South End Teen Center, 5 Libby Court in Waterville. Mon.– Fri. Evening Meals starting at 3 p.m.;

Boys & Girls Club of Oakland at Ralph M. Atwood Primary School, 19 Heath St in Oakland. Mon. – Fri. Evening Meals starting at p.m.;

Common Street Arts, in the Hathaway Creative Building, 10 Water Street, Suite 106 in Waterville.

 FMI AYCC: Kitchen Manager Shawn Forkey, kitchen@alfondyouthcenter.org; Grants Manager Jared McCannell, jmccannell@alfondyouthcenter.org.

New farm to table, wellness center coming

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The old Resurrection building on Rte. 32, in Windsor, has been purchased and plans are in place to transform the long-vacant building into a community focal point for wellness, dining and gathering while building and supporting the community and its’ local economy. (contributed photo)

After weeks of work and negotiations, the old Resurrection building on Rte. 32, in Windsor, has been purchased and plans are in place to transform the long-vacant building into a community focal point for wellness, dining and gathering while building and supporting the community and its’ local economy. The facility will be managed in a co-operative concept offering membership opportunities as well as host events and workshops throughout the year.

Intentions are to get things started at the property right away with a farmer’s market then open early November will be a certified, gluten-free bakery and a wellness center that will offer a variety of instructed classes such as yoga, tai chi and Pilates as well as personalized consultations and therapies in different disciplines.

If all goes as planned, the Gathering Room will be available for special event rentals in December providing farm to table catered menu selections and local craft beer, wine and liquors.

One of the first spring projects will be to erect a canopy-covered pergola for seasonal dining, event rental and aerial yoga.

Watch for details! Sometime toward the end of October a Harvest Dinner Pig Roast will occur to generate community awareness and raise funds to install the kitchen equipment needed to open the farm to table restaurant/lounge portion of the facility.

The website is currently under construction so find the Facebook page for more contact information and updates.

Superintendent shares acronym meanings

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Vassalboro Community School. (source: jmg.org)

At the Sept. 17 Vassalboro School Board meeting, Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer shared a list of more than 200 educational bureaucracy acronyms he obtained at a recent conference.

Some have become familiar, like ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).

Some seem confusing. HR might mean either House Resolution or Human Resources, and SFA stands for either student financial assistance or School Food Authority. FY is fiscal year; FFY is federal fiscal year; PFY is preceding fiscal year; SY is school year; there is no SFY for state fiscal year.

There are long acronyms, like AEFFA (Association of Educational Federal Finance Administrators), CACFP (Child and Adult Care Food Program) and FPLPE (Federal Perkins Loan Program Extension). There are a minority of two-letter ones, including MC for Montana Compact and PS, which does not mean an addition to a letter or an email ­– it means postsecondary.

Easy to pronounce acronyms include GAPS, the Grant Administration and Payment System; HELP, the U. S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; LEARN, Literacy for All, Results for the Nation; and PLOP, present level of performance.