YARMOUTH
YHS senior Jared Conant awarded Mainely Character Scholarship
Yarmouth High School senior Jared Conant recently was awarded a Mainely Character Scholarship in the amount of $5,000 recognizing his exemplary concern for others, responsibility, integrity, and courage. Conant was selected from 375 scholarship applicants statewide; his scholarship is sponsored by Bristol Seafood.
Conant was lauded as a remarkable person, who continually shows care and concern for others in the community. Though confined to a wheel chair due to Muscular Dystrophy, he is determined to help others adopt a positive attitude about their well-being. He organized a junior varsity soccer tournament for the past seven years and plays a leadership role in community fundraisers, including for food drives for the past eight years.
Though challenged by his MD diagnosis, Conant works to help people who share that disease at Maine Muscular Dystrophy summer camp. This year the coaches instated the Conant Sports Award in his honor, an action taken only three times in the past 25 years at his school. Conant led fundraising efforts to support this award, raising nearly $38,000 to help fund research for muscular dystrophy and send kids to the camp.
Conant plans to attend the University of Southern Maine in the fall.
Mainely Character has been awarding scholarships to students of character since 2001. Ten scholarships are being awarded in 2022. For more information visit mainelycharacter.org.
SOUTH BERWICK
Museum opens for season with two new exhibits
The Old Berwick Historical Society’s Counting House Museum is open for the season, featuring the new textile exhibit, “Material Culture: Domestic Cloth-Making in 18th Century New England.”
The 2022 exhibit explores the material culture of early domestic textile arts and the tools used to produce linen and woolen cloth in rural New England homesteads.
A new permanent exhibit, “Berwick Begins,” also premieres at this time. The display explores the founding of the Berwicks almost 400 years ago.
The Counting House Museum is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through October.
For more details, call 384-0000 or visit oldberwick.org.
OLD ORCHARD BEACH
RSU 23 running track closed for renovation
Regional School Unit 23 announced that work on the Running Track Renovation Project has begun. The track will be closed for all forms of recreation effective immediately.
The project is projected to be completed later this summer, with an anticipated reopening of Aug. 10.
LIMERICK
Church collecting items for veterans’ gift baskets
In an effort to help veterans in need of assistance, St. Matthew Parish in Limerick will collect items for gift baskets this Saturday and Sunday, and again June 18-19 at the church at 19 Dora Lane.
Items needed include snacks, candies, toiletries, and clothing items like socks and gloves. Donations will be collected before, during, or after Masses, which will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday and at 8 a.m. Sunday.
The gift baskets will be created and distributed through the Sanford Vet Center in Springvale. The initiative is being organized by the parish’s Armed Services Outreach Group.
For more details, call St. Matthew Parish at 793-2244 or email stmatthew@portlanddiocese.org.
BRUNSWICK
St. John’s students form “human chain” to pass donated food to Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program
St. John’s Catholic School students participated in a practical lesson in unity recently, when the entire student body formed a human chain to convey hundreds items from the school to the Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program just a few blocks away.
Those items, totaling more than 500 pounds in goods, were donated by the school community to benefit community members in need.
To watch a video of the “human chain,” visit facebook.com/watch/sjcsbme.
BRUNSWICK
Runners, walkers raise $150,000 for Travis Mills Foundation
More than 1,000 runners and walkers came together at this year’s Miles for Mills 5K to raise $150,000 for the Travis Mills Foundation.
Held for the first time at Brunswick Landing, the Memorial Day event included a moving military presentation that paid tribute to the 85 Maine people who died while in service after Sept. 11, 2001; children’s activities, prizes for top finishers, and more.
“This was an incredible event,” said U.S. Army SSG (Ret.) Travis Mills, founder of the organization. “It was especially meaningful for it to be located at the former Brunswick Naval Air Station. I had the pleasure of meeting folks who served at the base who came back to run the race – that’s something special.”
The top fundraiser was Michael Burke of Old Orchard Beach, who raised $6,280 for recalibrated veterans.
BRUNSWICK
Local Business Leaders Challenge Area Businesses
Mid-Coast area business leaders Jim Howard, Frank Crooker, and Ted Crooker presented checks in the amount of $200,000 to the Brunswick Naval Aviation Museum in support of the museum’s “WHEELS UP!” capital campaign.
In delivering his $100,000 donation, Howard said he was pleased to contribute to BNAM’s mission to preserve the heritage of NAS Brunswick and the men and women who served there. “We challenge other area business leaders to match our donations,” said Howard.
In delivering their combined $100,000 donation, Frank and Ted Crooker added, “We are excited to contribute to telling the story of the area’s aviation.”
The Brunswick Naval Aviation Museum was founded in 2009 and acquired the former Naval Air Station Brunswick chapel in 2015. This first phase includes the installation of a new fire suppression and security system, and a new glass curtain-wall entrance opposite the P-3 “Orion” static display aircraft.
The next phase of the museum’s capital plan includes building a new entry plaza with honor walls, installing an up-to-date efficient HVAC system, and preparing the main hall for new, state-of-the-art exhibits.
For more details, go to bnamuseum.org.
PORTLAND
“Blessing of the Fleet” set for Maine State Pier on Sunday
All are welcome to gather for a “Blessing of the Fleet” ceremony at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Maine State Pier, located at Commercial and Franklin streets on the Portland waterfront.
“This blessing is a fun Catholic tradition that is celebrated in many maritime communities throughout the world and asks the Lord to bless all recreational boats and current mariners and their vessels as we begin the summer season,” said Fr. Seamus Griesbach, pastor of the Portland Peninsula & Island Parishes.
The event will feature a variety of boats, including water taxis, lobster boats, trawlers, and even a tugboat.
For more details, call the Portland Peninsula & Island Parishes at 773-7746 or email PortlandPeninsula@portlanddiocese.org.
PORTLAND/MANCHESTER
Maine Dental Association honors Portland dentist
Dr. David Kerr, who practices in Portland, has been recognized by the Maine Dental Association with inclusion on its Honor Wall, recognizing extraordinary service to the MDA.
Kerr was acknowledged during the association’s annual convention on May 20.
Kerr has practiced in Portland for more than 30 years. He attended the the University of the Pacific School of Dentistry and did his general practice residency at Long Island Jewish Hillside Medical Center. Following residency, he taught at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine and the University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine.
Kerr is a past president of the Maine Dental Association and is the association’s treasurer.
Kerr said he was “happily surprised” by the honor.
“I have always felt it is important to give back to the community. There have been many people that have helped me along the way, and I thank all of you,” Kerr said.
SOUTH PORTLAND
Friends of Casco Bay relaunches sewage disposal service for boats in Casco Bay
Friends of Casco Bay is relaunching their boat pumpout service after a two-year pandemic hiatus. The service provides a convenient, practical, and legal way for boaters to get rid of their sewage.
The mobile service is operated with the marine advocacy organization’s pumpout vessel, Headmaster, and is offered to boats between South Portland and Harpswell.
Casco Baykeeper Ivy Frignoca noted that getting their verses pumped out is one of the best things boaters can do to keep the bay free from bacteria and sewage that make the waters unsafe for recreation, fishing, and wildlife while offering a safe and legal way to dispose of sewage.
Casco Bay is a federally-designated No Discharge Area, making it illegal for any boat – from cruise ships to pleasure crafts – to discharge raw or partially treated sewage into the Bay. Friends of Casco Bay’s pumpout service has reportedly helped to keep over 254,000 gallons of sewage out of Casco Bay since it was launched in 1995.
The service has a $10 pumpout fee per 20 gallons of sewage, and additionally offers holding tank flushes for $15. To request a pumpout from Friends of Casco Bay, boat owners must fill out the online form at cascobay.org/pumpout.
AUGUSTA
Winners of professional truck driving competition announced
The Maine Professional Drivers Association announced the winners of its recent Maine Professional Truck Driving Championship.
The winners and their categories include: Step-Van – Robert Cochran; Straight Truck – Jeff Granholm; 3-Axle – Alan Paradis; 4-Axel – Robert Fernald ; 5-AXLE – Kenneth Duncan; Sleeper – Wayne Martin; Tanker – Haleigh White; Flatbed – Johnathan Sawyer; and Twin-Trailer – Matthew Richardson.
Paradis also won the title of Grand Champion this year.
The winners will move on to represent Maine at the National Truck Driving Championship Aug. 16-19 in Indianapolis, Ind.
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