When Summit Natural Gas does business in a community, it makes a long-term commitment to everyone in that community … not only to our customers.

One example is our recent sponsorship award to Lakewood Continuing Care, where Summit gave $5,000 for Lakewood’s seniors to attend a cottage retreat on the Maine coast in mid-August.

Lakewood — a 105-bed continuing care center in Waterville where staff work 24 hours per day, seven days per week to ensure quality, compassionate care — offers diverse daily activities for its residents in three neighborhoods: Alzheimer’s/dementia care, long-term care, and skilled nursing and rehabilitation care.

One of the activities it offers — an annual weeklong trip to Wonderview Cottages in Belfast — benefited from a cash gift made through Summit’s Community Sponsorship Program. The gift helped pay approximately one-third of the expense of the trip for residents of Moonlight Bay, Lakewood’s unit for Alzheimer’s and long-term care residents.

Since 2010, Lakewood and the Inland Hospital Foundation have conducted an annual auction to generate funding that would ensure residents have the opportunity to enjoy a getaway for a week at Wonderview Cottages in Belfast.

To ensure the getaway for Lakewood residents, the goal was to raise $15,000.

Donna Jo Mitchell, Lakewood’s senior director of philanthropy, said Summit’s $5,000 donation made a big difference in reaching that goal.

Proceeds from a community auction in May raised $12,000 to transport residents from the Alzheimer’s/dementia care and long-term care neighborhoods for a week in Belfast with 24/7 staff care. Through its Community Sponsorship Program, Summit Natural Gas of Maine made a generous donation of $5,000 to the auction, which combined with contributions from community members, physicians and staff members to generate sufficient funds for the trip.

“Our residents look forward to their summer vacation, maintaining that critical connection to the community while guaranteeing the safety and dignity of each resident,” said Mitchell, who requested funding from Summit.

“Fulfilling a resident’s wish to see the Maine coast not only improves the resident’s well being, but also impacts the caregivers,” Mitchell said. “They watch the transformation of their residents, who remember their youths. This takes them away from their aches and pains for a short while.”

The program “helps our seniors and our caregivers, with the power of being connected to the outdoors,” she said. “One week really makes a difference in the lives of our seniors. We are very grateful for Summit’s contributions to Lakewood’s annual May Day Auction.”

Mitchell said Lakewood strives to provide a measure of comfort to families as their loved ones are cared for by professionals with compassionate and quality care that makes the facility a real home. “The annual May Day Auction is a special event that helps fund a unique component to maintain each resident’s critical connection to the community as a way of improving quality of life,” she said.

Summit is proud to support organizations in the Kennebec Valley and elsewhere in the communities it serves in Maine to maintain a way of life that’s safe, sustainable, and full of vitality. That’s the way Summit Natural Gas does business.