Safe Passage celebrates
anniversary with benefit

YARMOUTH — The Casco Bay Friends of Safe Passage is holding a benefit concert Sunday, Nov. 8 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the founding of Safe Passage.

Singer/songwriter Catie Curtis will headline the concert, with Lori Voornas, Q 97.9 radio personality, serving as the emcee. The concert begins at 7 p.m. and will be held at Yarmouth High School Performing Arts Center, 286 West Elm St., Yarmouth.

A free, pre-concert reception for ticketholders starts at 5:30 p.m., with appetizers from Bingas Wingas and Pineland Farms. Other highlights include a special appearance by Catie Curtis, a raffle, and a sneak peak at the top 20 photos from the Third Annual Safe Passage Photo Contest.

Tickets range from $10 for students, $20 for adults and $35 for Sillas de Esperanza,or “Chairs of Hope,” which reserves a seat within the first seven rows. They can be purchased online at www.brownpapertickets.com, at Bull Moose Music locations, or in Yarmouth at Andy’s Handy Store or Yarmouth Community Services.

More information can be found at www.safepassage.org or by contacting the concert organizer, Jennifer Libby, at libbyj22@aol.com.

Employers earn praise
for higher ed support

AUGUSTA — The Maine Employers’ Initiative, a program of the Maine Development Foundation, presented a certificate of recognition to 16 Maine employers for their exemplary efforts in supporting employee higher education.

The 16 employers recognized at a recent ceremony are Bath Iron Works, Coastal Enterprises Inc., Disability RMS, FISC Solutions, Lebel and Harriman, Maine Bank and Trust, Maine Civil Liberties Union Foundation, Maine Compact for Higher Education, Massabesic Adult Education, Oakhurst Dairy, Northern New England Housing Investment Fund, Pratt and Whitney, Saco and Biddeford Savings, Sanford Adult Education, Town of Wells and Unum.

The companies were lauded for taking steps to promote higher education among their workers by highlighting existing educational benefits, celebrating employee completion of degree programs, incorporating educational goals in performance reviews, sharing resource information in support of higher education, and/or creating a formal tuition reimbursement policy.

The Maine Employers’ Initiative provides employers with technical assistance and resources for supporting college degree and certificate achievement for employees.

Sedgewood Commons earns
quality award, donates 14K

FALMOUTH — Sedgewood Commons, a Genesis HealthCare Skilled Nursing Facility for patients with Alzheimer’s Disease or related dementia disorders, recently raised over $14,000 for the Alzheimer’s Association.

The money was donated from proceeds raised during the Alzheimer’s Association Portland Memory Walk held on Sept. 26. Sedgewood Commons’ donation earned them the title of the Top Business Team for the Alzheimer’s Association 2009 Portland Memory Walk.

Sedgewood Commons also received a 2009 Maine Health Care Association Quality Improvement Award in recognition of making quality improvement and culture-based advances in care giving.

The award also recognizes the Center for receiving a Step I National Quality Award presented by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living.

Donations

LearningWorks, formerly known as Portland West, received a $10,000 grant from the Wal-mart Foundation to support its English Language Program, which serves adult immigrants and refugees. 

Freeport-based Coastal Studies for Girls received a $5,000 grant from the Bangor Savings Bank Foundation to support its “Opening the Doors” Capital Campaign and provide funding for the environmental and marine research aspect of its science education program. 

Downeast Energy & Building Supply, with 13 offices in Maine, is donating $50,000 to heating assistance programs in Maine and Southern New Hampshire. More than 15 organizations will receive a portion of the money, including Tri-Valley United Way, York County Community Action, United Way of Kennebec Valley, Town of South Portland Heat Assistance Program, Town of Freeport, N.H. National Guard Chaplain’s Emergency, Camden Worthy Poor, Keeping Neighbors Warm in Biddeford and Rockland Heat Assistance Fund. 

At the annual Art Show benefiting the OceanView Resident Assistance Fund, $2,000 was raised to assist seniors during a financial crisis. 

The Portland Kiwanis Club presented a $5,000 check to the City of Portland in support of the Kiwanis Pool. 

Cape Elizabeth-based The Lobster Shack and its patrons raised over $2,400 this past summer for The National Scholarship Fund, which provides college scholarships for children who have aged out of foster care in Maine. 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently renewed the Frannie Peabody Center housing grant for $3.9 million to support HAVEN, its statewide housing assistance program for people living with HIV/AIDS throughout Maine. 

The Maine Island Trail Association received two grants totaling $35,000 to fund increased volunteer care of the wild islands of the Maine Island Trail. The William Bingham Foundation provided $20,000 for restructuring and expanding MITA’s Island Adopter Program. The Quimby Family Foundation donated $15,000 to support new stewardship initiatives in the Cobscook Bay area.  

Portland-based MaineHealth received a grant of $185,540 from the Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making to help patients make informed medical decisions through the use of decision aids such as booklets and DVDs, along with physician coordination.  

New Hires, Promotions

Ralph L. Harding of Freeport was hired as director of private equity at Spinnaker Trust, an employee-owned wealth management firm specializing in investment management and trust services.

Pierce Atwood LLP has hired three attorneys for its Portland office: Kevin J. Haskins of Portland, associate in the environmental and land use practice group, attorney Joshua Dunlap of South Portland, associate in the litigation practice group and attorney Michelle Bush of Portland, associate in the employment practice group; and Michael J. Anderson of Portland, associate in the business practice group for its Portsmouth, N.H., office.

North Yarmouth Academy has hired Laurie Hyndman of Cumberland Foreside, who was the former owner and publisher of Port City Life magazine, as director of admission.

Kevin Eames of South Portland has joined Piper Shores retirement community as the facilities director. 

The Board of Directors of the Topsham-based Southern Midcoast Maine Chamber has named Steven W. Wallace of Auburn as its next president and executive director.

People Plus, the greater Brunswick community center, has hired Jordan Cardone of Brunswick as the coordinator for its teen center.  

Anderson
Bush
Dunlap
Eames
Harding
Hyndman
Wallace