Portland Ovations offers
schools travel subsidies

PORTLAND — Through a new initiative called Destination Portland, Portland Ovations is offering subsidized transportation for field trips in the arts, culture, and humanities for Maine students and teachers.

School groups can attend any school-time or evening performance at Merrill Auditorium or Hannaford Hall presented by Portland Ovations and extend the field trip with a program, tour, or activity at another Portland cultural institution.

Transportation subsidy grants of up to $500 are available when a school buys 40 or more tickets to an Ovations performance and plans a program the same day with any of the seven Destination Portland partner organizations: Portland Museum of Art, Museum of African Arts and Culture, Portland Harbor Museum, The Telling Room, Maine Historical Society, The Children’s Museum or Portland Public Library.

The subsidies through Destination Portland are limited and available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Preference will be given to schools in York County and Lewiston/Auburn with large populations of English language learners and free or reduced lunch students.

For applications for a Destination Portland transportation subsidy, please visit www.portlandovations.org.

Interested schools and teachers can also contact Barri Lynn Moreau, director of education and community outreach at Portland Ovations, at blmoreau@portlandovations.org.

Pets for Vets
program underway

BRUNSWICK — The Coastal Humane Society of Brunswick and the Mid-Coast chapter of Disabled American Veterans are jointly sponsoring a new program to provide opportunities for veterans to adopt cats, dogs and other small animals. 

The program, called Pets for Vets, allows for veterans to adopt companion animals at a significantly reduced cost. For older, special needs animals or adult cats, all fees will be waived. 
      
The reduced adoption fee also includes spay or neuter of the animal, heartworm and Lyme test, vaccinations, medical records and one year membership in the Coastal Humane Society.

For more information, please contact Bob Whitney, Pets for Vets coordinator, at the Coastal Humane Society, 725-5051, ext. 12, or bobwhitney@coastalhumanesociety.org. 

Veterans or friends and family of veterans who might be interested in the program can also contact Jim Friedlander, DAV Chapter 15 Commander, at 721-8979.

Oakhurst Egg Nog
fundraiser ongoing

PORTLAND – Oakhurst Dairy has launched its annual holiday fundraiser in support of the Salvation Army of Northern New England through sales of its Dairy Egg Nog.  

For every carton of Oakhurst Egg Nog and Light Egg Nog sold through January 2010, 5 cents will be donated to the Salvation Army.  

This is the tenth year Oakhurst has held the egg nog fundraiser, and have raised a total of $170,000 from the sale of over 3 million containers of Oakhurst Egg Nog products.

Good Deeds

The Empire Reindeer Christmas Club held its annual gala fundraiser recently at the Portland Yacht Club and raised over $10,000 for Toys for Tots.

Borders Books in Brunswick sponsored a book drive to benefit United Way of Mid-Coast Maine’s Success By 6 initiative and collected 967 books, totalling over $6,000. The books were distributed to area programs working with young children and families.

TD Bank, through the TD Charitable Foundation, donated $10,000 to support the University of Maine Cooperative Extension’s Plant a Row for the Hungry program at the future site of the Regional Learning Center at Tidewater Farm in Falmouth.

Yarmouth resident Mark McCain recently came back from his third volunteer trip to Mississippi with International Relief Teams to help rebuild and repair homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina in September 2005.

The third annual Altrusa Empty Bowl fundraiser event sponsored by the Portland Altrusa Club raised  $1,065 for Project FEED.

The Yarmouth branch of Bath Savings Institution is giving a boost to Yarmouth nonprofits with a $25 donation made every time a new  eChecking account is opened. The program, which began last spring, has made donations to Yarmouth Arts, Yarmouth Historical Society, Yarmouth Village Improvement Society, Yarmouth Senior Housing and Royal River Conservation.

The Rotary Club of Brunswick donated $3,000 to People Plus for general operational support of the Teen Center.

Town & Country Federal Credit Union sponsored its first Pink Tulip Fundraising project to raise money for Breast Cancer Awareness in Maine.  The credit union sold almost 250 bags of pink tulip bulbs and raised $2,350 for the Maine Cancer Foundation to support breast cancer research.

The fifth annual Sit with Santa fundraiser held recently at the Planet Dog Company Store in Portland raised $750 for the Planet Dog Foundation grant program.

Cape Elizabeth Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage donated $1,500 to Project G.R.A.C.E. through its charitable arm, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Cares program.

The staff of Portland Research Group recently closed its office and spent a half-day volunteering for Portland Trails, making improvements to a section of the trail network around greater Portland.

The United Way of Greater Portland has joined forces with Preble Street to launch The Pantry Project, a program designed to address hunger in Maine from now until June 2010. Shelving units have been delivered to 35 companies around greater Portland, including the United Way headquarters, the Cumberland County Civic Center/Portland Pirates, and MaineHealth with the goal of encouraging employees to bring in food donations, box the food, and deliver it to Preble Street for distribution.

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The eighth annual Maine Credit Unions’ Ending Hunger Walking Tour recently celebrated the completion of the month-long walk made by Brenda Davis, executive director of Cross Roads Ministries and Food Pantry. The walking tour is a joint effort of Maine’s credit unions and Davis to build awareness about the problem of hunger in Maine. Nearly $30,000 was raised from Maine’s credit unions this year in the walking tour that covered more than 650 miles and 62 communities from Kittery to Madawaska, with stops in every Maine county. Pictured here is Davis, left, accepting a recognition award for her hard work and dedication from Jon Paradise of the Maine Credit Union League.

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