People and Business

Giving Back

The Maine Community Foundation awarded a $10,000 grant to the Portland Housing Authority to conduct summer programs for teens and children in four low-income neighborhoods. The grant will allow youth to develop leadership skills and strengthen community life by creating and managing public events in the areas around Portland’s Front Street, Kennedy Park, Riverton Park and Sagamore Village. The grant will also support the creation of a year-end newsletter. The programs are managed by the authority’s Community Hope through Education, Empowerment, Training and Action project called CHEETA.

The Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation and the Maine Sunday Telegram awarded $100,000 in grants to 12 food distribution organizations throughout the state. Selected from more than 75 applicants, the winners include Cultivating Community, of Portland, which was awarded the maximum grant of $15,000. The funds will be used for garden construction and food education. In addition, Yarmouth Community Garden was awarded a $3,100 grant for irrigation equipment. The food grant program, launched in April, is intended to support farmer’s markets, food pantries, community gardens, farm-to-school programs and other nonprofit organizations that market or distribute healthy food grown, raised or caught in Maine.

New Hires, Promotions and Appointments

Portland law firm Verrill Dana has added Wayne A. Keown to its intellectual property practice. Keown, a Portland resident, is a patent prosecutor who holds a doctorate in genetics and has more than 25 years of experience in intellectual property law. He will focus on work with clients in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

Benchmark Residential & Investment Real Estate, a Portland-based property brokerage, has added James Walsh, Bruce Bornstein, Danielle Smith Bruce, Erik Carlson, Joshua Caron and Scott Huska its team. The company is locally owned and specializes in properties throughout the Portland area, the Lakes Region and the Casco Bay islands.

Norway Savings Bank has hired Sherrie Maietta as assistant vice president and branch manager of its South Portland location. Maietta brings more than 20 years of retail banking experience to the position. In addition, the bank has promoted Maria Edwards, who has more than 30 years’ experience, to assistant vice president and branch manager of its Yarmouth office.

The Maine Real Estate & Development Association has added three members to its board of directors, replacing retiring members. Joining the board are Timmi Paulson from the Portland law firm of Preti Flaherty, Theresa Hodge from Bath Savings Institution and Jennifer Small from Malone Commercial Brokers Inc.

Recognition

Maine Veterans’ Homes in Scarborough, Machias and South Paris were recently named recipients of the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living’s 2014 Silver National Quality Award. The homes were selected as models of excellence in providing high-quality care, and were the only facilities in Maine to receive Silver Awards this year.

For the fourth year in a row, Maine Medical Center has been named to the list of “Most Wired Hospitals” by Hospital and Health Networks magazine. According to the magazine, the list represents hospitals nationwide that are making progress through innovative information technology in four areas: infrastructure, management, clinical quality and clinical integration.

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