People & Business: Dec. 23

Rwanda Bean opens new Thompson’s Point location

Rwanda Bean Coffee is opening a third location, moving to Thompson’s Point in Portland into the former Cellardoor Winery space in the historic Brick North building next to Bissell Brothers Brewing Company.

Rwanda Bean will operate their coffee roasting, packaging, subscription and wholesaling businesses, offer retail coffee and cold brew sales at the new site and host experiential programming and events. They are in the process of permitting and hope to be open for business as soon as possible. Rwanda Bean also operates at shops in South Portland and Portland.

“Thompson’s Point is emerging as Portland’s great new neighborhood for arts, culture, food and drink, and entertainment, for people of all ages and all backgrounds,” Rwanda Bean co-founder Ben Graffius said. “This is the perfect spot for Rwanda Bean to continue its growth and we are truly excited to be part of the amazing community of businesses at the Point.”

South Portland Land Trust holds annual meeting

South Portland Land Trust elected executive committee at its annual meeting in December. Richard Rottkov was elected president; Chelsea Scudder, vice president; Susan Hasson, treasurer; and Andrea McCall became board secretary.

The board also welcomed new members, Tex Haeuser and Alex Redfield. Haeuser, who was director of planning for South Portland for 30 years, was a member of the SPLT’s Core Planning Team for its recently completed organizational planning project. Redfield is co-director of Cultivating Communities.

Tom Blake announced the Land Trust’s Volunteer of the Year, Dan Hogan, who committed many hours and much hard work to clean up the Clark’s Pond Trail.

“South Portland Land Trust exists to make our natural resources available for all to enjoy, largely thanks to the volunteers like Dan, who build, maintain and protect our open spaces,” Blake said.

Yarmouth residents name their favorites for 2020

The Yarmouth Chamber of Commerce recently announced the 2020 Yarmouth Favorites. Hannaford in Yarmouth was the workplace with the town’s favorite essential workers and the organization missed the most by voters during shutdown was Merrill Memorial Library. The business that stood out in adapting to COVID was Brown Chiropractic & Wellness Clinic, which was also named the best place to support a healthy lifestyle. Epic Image was not only named the place with the most friendly mask-wearing staff, it was awarded overall excellence in business and customer service. Clayton’s Café & Bakery was voted the favorite place for curbside service during COVID, as well as the favorite place to satisfy a sweet tooth. The favorite realtor was Powers Real Estate. The business to watch in 2021? Maggie Mae’s.

Hires, promotions, appointments

Braxton

Sherri Braxton will be joining Bowdoin College as the information technology division’s first senior director for digital innovation. Braxton will bring to Bowdoin more than 20 years of experience in leading teams that focus on classroom instruction, instructional design and facilitating online and hybrid courses. Previously, as the director of distance education within the Johns Hopkins University Engineering for Professionals Program, Braxton led the online development team in the design and implementation of courses.

Granted

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, announced a federal grant totaling $184,900 from the U.S. Agency for International Development to Konbit Sante in Falmouth. The award will provide operation and maintenance support to the pediatric ward in the Justinian Hospital in Cap-Haitien, Haiti. Konbit Sante will repair the electrical system and provide training to the maintenance team. Konbit Sante works to build a stronger, more sustainable health care system in Cap-Haitien, the second-largest city in Haiti and a sister city to Portland.

UScellular is supporting Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine with a gift of $5,000, which will be used to help make the holidays a little brighter for kids, teens and their families by giving 100 families $50 gift cards to Hannaford supermarkets.