BIDDEFORD

Free summer meals for kids

Kelly Hughes Wheeler – a registered nurse at Redington-Fairview General Hospital – was named the Maine Hospital Association's Caregiver of the Year. Photo by Becky Schnur

The Biddeford School Nutrition Department, with funds from the USDA Summer Food Service Program, is offering a summer meal program during the week that is open to everyone in the community.

Breakfast and lunch must be consumed while at the various community locations they are being provided at and will consist of a protein, whole grain bread or pasta, vegetable, fruit and milk.

The meals will be free for children 18 and younger and only $3 each for adults.

The meals will be served at the following times and locations:

Monday through Friday, through Aug. 12 at JFK Kindergarten Center, 64 West St. from 8 to 8:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. to noon; from 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. at Canopy Park Community Center, 46 Sullivan St.; and from 11:30 a.m. to noon at McArthur Library, 270 Main St.

Meals also will be served Monday through Thursday through Aug. 4 at Biddeford Middle School, at 25 Tiger Way from 8 to 8:30 a.m. and 11 to 11:30 a.m.

OLD ORCHARD BEACH

Harmon Museum opening

The Harmon Museum of Old Orchard Beach Historical Society will open for the summer starting Tuesday at 4 Portland Ave.

The museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays through Sept. 3. The museum is closed Sundays and Mondays.

Admission is free.

For more details, call 934-9319 or visit www.harmonmuseum.org.

Donate to summer camp fund

The Salvation Army’s Advisory Board has raised nearly $9,500 to send local children to Camp Sebago this summer.

Those wishing to make a donation to the camp fund should make checks payable to The Salvation Army, and mail them to The Salvation Army, P.O. Box 375, Old Orchard Beach, ME 04064.

ROCKPORT

Nurse wins caregiver award

Kelly Hughes Wheeler, RN, has received the 2016 Maine Hospital Association Caregiver of the Year Award, honoring her as a caregiver from an MHA member institution who demonstrates extraordinary commitment to the delivery of care to patients and their families.

One example of Wheeler’s service came at the end of her shift in the Birthing Center at Redington-Fairview General Hospital, when a call came in asking for help with a very busy emergency room.

Wheeler, the center’s nurse manager, volunteered to help, even though it was time for her to go home. It was then that she met a couple from Pennsylvania who had been in a serious auto accident. The accident left the couple in a strange area, without a vehicle or even a cellphone to contact loved ones.

Wheeler helped the couple make all the necessary calls to family, the insurance company, a taxi, motel, a towing facility for their totaled car and helped connect with with a car rental facility and cellphone replacement, as they’d left their phone at the scene of the accident. She also got them something to eat while they waited.

Wheeler has 24 years of experience as an obstetric nurse and has managed the RFGH OB department since 2010.

The award was presented Wednesday at MHA’s annual Summer Forum at the Samoset Resort.

The hospital’s chief executive officer, Richard Willett, nominated Wheeler for the award, noting that she “understands the meaning of patient-centered care and always goes the extra mile for patients.”

PORTLAND

Students win app challenge

Seven tech-savvy students from South Portland, Yarmouth, Portland and Freeport high schools were recently selected as winners of the Tyler Technologies Maine App Challenge, a contest that encourages students to develop a mobile application that addresses a need within their school or community.

The seven finalists successfully designed, developed and presented functional mobile applications and were rewarded with college scholarships totaling $10,000 at a ceremony preceding a recent Portland Sea Dogs game.

This year’s winners are:

First place: “SoPo Recycles,” by Caity Gaven and Corey Stailing of South Portland High School, is a game that teaches users how to dispose of and recycle various items that are typically discarded in the trash.

Second place: “Full Circle,” by Andrei Lougovtsov of Yarmouth High School, provides users a place to list and find volunteer opportunities in the community.

Third place: “PHS Eats,” by Jessica Keast of Portland High School, helps PHS students determine where to buy lunch in downtown Portland based on how much money the students want to spend or what type of food they want to eat.

Third place: “Freeport Fitness,” from Leo O’Connor, Peter Sachs and Sam Randall of Freeport High School, allows users to find places in Freeport to exercise and eat healthy, and helps them track their fitness.

The Maine App Challenge was developed in partnership with Educate Maine’s Project>Login to encourage the next generation of professionals to pursue future careers in disciplines involving science, technology, engineering and math.

“The Maine App Challenge has proven to be a successful and innovative way to get high school students interested in technical careers at an early stage,” said Chris Hepburn, president of Tyler Technologies’ ERP & Schools Division. “We are thrilled by all of the creativity and motivation we’ve seen from these young students – their talent and drive will benefit the Maine companies they join as adults, so we couldn’t be happier to support their continued education with $10,000.”

YMCA gets $8,000 grant

The YMCA of Southern Maine has received an $8,000 grant from the Undapassawana Fund of the Maine Community Foundation for its Early Learning Readiness Program.

That program is designed to help close the gap that exists for children in underserved groups, including new Americans, low-income families, and caregivers and families that do not have access to a formal preschool setting and need support in meeting the needs of the children in their care.

The program provides a preschool-like experience for children ages 5 and younger and their caregivers, through learning centers that foster development and improve school readiness for the children, while supporting the skills and confidence of their caregivers. Free to all, the YMCA works closely with community partners to ensure that all children have the opportunity to start kindergarten with the skills they need to be successful, including Let’s Go! 5-2-1-0, SNAP-ED, Portland Children’s Museum, local libraries, and Southern Maine Community College.

Registration is currently open for the fall session at the Casco Bay, Pineland and Portland branches. To learn more, visit mainecf.org or call Sarah Leighton at 874-1111.

Waynflete gets $50,000 grant

Waynflete has been awarded a $50,000 grant by the Edward E. Ford Foundation. The three-year grant will support the school’s New England Youth Identity Summit, institutional assessment and professional development related to dialogue, and the hiring of an associate director of student affairs to help lead these efforts.

The grant requires that the school match the gift through charitable donations no later than July 2017.

The summit is a two-day event designed to spark conversations about identity, diversity and community. The inaugural 2016 program, which Waynflete co-hosted with Seeds of Peace, featured speakers, musical performances, student-led workshops, and breakout sessions. The event attracted more than 300 high school students and educators from across New England.

Marketer wins three awards

Last week, Portland native Abby Hibbard, assistant account executive at 451 Marketing, took home three awards at the 48th Annual Bell Ringer Awards Ceremony hosted by The Publicity Club of New England.

The event was emceed by WCVB Channel 5’s Frank Holland and honored 451 people for excellence in executing standout public relations and social media campaigns.

WELLS

School district honors volunteer

Longtime volunteer Barbara Jenkins has been named the Wells-Ogunquit Community School District’s Exemplary Volunteer Award recipient for 2015-16.

Jenkins was honored during the district’s Annual Volunteer Appreciation Strawberry Shortcake Social on June 9.

Nearly 40 volunteers attended the event.

Jenkins was presented with a strawberry plant as a token of appreciation.

District honors staff members

Wells-Ogunquit Community School District officials recently honored five staff members who are retiring and one staffer who has reached the 20-year milestone in service to the district.

Retiring is Sue Brown with 33 years of service, Pat Cilley (14 years), Nancy Garrick (three years), Marianne Horne (16 years) and Bob McCormick (12 years). Andy Lopez was recognized for his 20 years of service to the district.

KENNBUNK/GORHAM

SAR recognizes students

The Maine Sons of the American Revolution recently presented awards to students Gordon McCulloh of Kennebunk and Collin Jones of Gorham for their participation in SAR-sponsored contests.

McCulloh is the state winner of the SAR essay contest to pen a patriot essay related to the American Revolution. His prose explained how the Colonials’ rugged individualism and the formation of a balance of power government gave birth to American democracy.

Jones is the state winner of the SAR’s Eagle Scout contest that required him to put together a record of leadership for his years in the scouting program, along with a written essay about a Revolutionary topic. Jones wrote about women in the Revolutionary War.

Both students move on to the national level of their respective contests at the 126th Annual National Congress in Boston in July.

OGUNQUIT

EPA honors land trust visionary

Tin Smith, a founding board member and former president of the Great Works Regional Land Trust, was recently awarded a lifetime achievement award by the EPA’s New England office and recognized as a visionary leader in environmental protection and land conservation in southern coastal Maine for 35 years.

Smith was recognized for his leadership in conservation efforts and his tireless work on individual projects benefitting the trust. During his time, Smith oversaw the completion of 119 land purchases or easements protecting 5,974 acres of land in its six-town service area.

Smith was cited as one of the first to visualize and advocate for preserving the unique ecosystem of the 30,000-acre Mount Agamenticus area. He helped lead the effort to bring the individual towns, land trusts and conservation groups together to form the MtA2C (Mount Agamenticus to the Sea) coalition.

Smith also was part of the core group that had the vision in the early 1980s to protect the land and buildings at the former Laudholm Farm and to create the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve. He has been an active member of the Maine Organic Farmers and Growers Association for 30 years, serving on the board of directors and providing hundreds of hours of volunteer services for MOFGA.

COLUMBIA FALLS

Salmon group gets key grant

The Downeast Salmon Federation has received a major grant from the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities to ensure and improve the water quality of eastern Maine’s most important rivers.

The grant provides $50,000 for each of the next three years to support a full-time director of DSF’s land trust, the Downeast Rivers Land Trust. The director will lead an effort to conserve 35 miles of river frontage on three of the five major rivers in Washington County. These are the Narraguagus, Pleasant and East Machias rivers. The banks of the remaining two rivers, the Machias and the Dennys, have already largely been conserved. DSF’s larger goal is to have 80 percent of the riverbanks on all five rivers in some form of conservation status by 2025.

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