Nominations sought for
history teacher of the year

PORTLAND — The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is seeking nominations for its annual $10,000 Preserve America History Teacher of the Year Award.

The award is given to the best middle or high school history teacher in the United States chosen from a pool of state winners.

State winners will receive $1,000 and an archive of books and other resources for their school. Each winner will be honored in a ceremony in his or her home state. 

For information on nomination guidelines, to nominate a teacher and learn more about the award, please visit gilderlehrman.org/htoy.html or contact the Gilder Lehrman History Teacher of the Year coordinator at htoy@gilderlehrman.org or 646-366-9666. 

The Maine  state coordinator is Carolin Collins, Director of Education at Maine Historical Society, at 774-1822 ext. 212.

The nomination deadline is March 15. 

Habitat dedicates
31st Mid-Coast home

HARPSWELL — Habitat for Humanity / 7 Rivers Maine recently dedicated its 31st Habitat home on Benaquist Way in Harpswell. 

Habitat volunteers, supporters, and staff joined new homeowner Gwynn Erickson and her daughter Meredith to celebrate.

The house is the second of two Habitat homes built in a Greater Brunswick Housing Corporation subdivision. The home features Energy Star rated appliances and double pane windows, and increased wall insulation.

The Catholic Churches of All Saints Parish was instrumental in fundraising for the home.  Local business partners who made contributions include Associated Appraisers of Maine, Jeff Smith at Bluewater Design, Dead River Company, Nehring Company, RWM Heating, Inc., The Water Doctors, LLC, and Bill Whorff & Sons Excavating, Budd Cherry, master electrician, and volunteer site supervisors, Chris Turner and Dottie Cattelle.

Free military funeral
honors for Maine veterans

AUGUSTA — Active duty, National Guard, Reserve or Merchant Marine Service members who received an honorable discharge are entitled to a military funeral honors ceremony at no cost to the family if the service member did not receive one at the time of death.

The Maine Military Funeral Honors Program began performing ceremonies for Maine’s Veterans in 2004 and has performed nearly 5,000 ceremonies throughout the state.

Funeral directors or family members can call and request this free service.

For more information about the Maine Military Funeral Honors Program or Military Funeral Honors, families and veterans can visit funeralhonors.org or call the Maine state coordinator in Augusta at 1-800-958-5967.

Awards

Parkview Adventist Medical Center chief information officer, Bill McQuaid, recently earned two industry awards. McQuaid was  listed as one of ComputerWorld Magazine’s 2010 Premier 100 Information Technology Leaders. He was also recently nominated “Chief Security Officer of the Year” by SC Magazine, a monthly print publication for computer security professionals.

Travel + Leisure magazine listed The Harraseeket Inn in Freeport as one of the 500 Best Hotels in the World for 2009.
 
Heather Stephenson, co-leader of the Bowdoin College Children’s Center’s Older Toddler program, was awarded the Terri Lynne Lokoff/Children’s Tylenol National Child Care Teacher Award.   

Portland-based Weichert, Realtors – Waterglen Group recognized its top brokers for 2009.
Broker of the Year – Sales Volume was presented to broker Mary Desjardin; Broker of the Year – Units Sold was presented to  Jim Walsh of Cape Elizabeth. Broker David K. Roberts of South Portland was named the Rookie of the Year based on 2009 sales volume.

Allen & Selig Realty of North Yarmouth and Bath named Brent and Barbara Hershey of The Hershey Home Team as its Top Listing Team for 2009 and presented JoAnn Daigle with the Top Honors for Individual Sales Production in Sales Volume for 2009.

The Maine State Bar Association recently held its annual meeting where the following awards were presented: The John W. Ballou Award, the association’s highest award, was presented to Mary C. Toole of Portland, a shareholder in the Portland and Freeport law firm of Toole, Carlin & Powers, P.A. Toole founded Maine’s first elder law practice 20 years ago. The Howard H. Dana, Jr. Award for significant contributions that enhance access to civil legal assistance for the indigent, and access to justice was presented to William J. Kayatta, Jr., of Portland, a partner in Portland firm Pierce Atwood LLP. Carolyn Duby Glassman Award, presented for removing barriers and advancing the position of women, was awarded to Lisa J. Marchese, an assistant Maine attorney general since 1986.

Appointments

David Perkins of North Yarmouth, president of Perkins Olson law firm, was elected chairman of board of directors for the Hospice of Southern Maine.

Ann Archino Howe, president of Sustainable Design Studio in Portland was elected to the 2010 National Board of the U.S. Green Building Council.

Neal F. Pratt of Scarborough, attorney with Preti Flaherty, was recently elected chairman of the Cumberland County Civic Center Board of Trustees.

Mitchell Stein of Cumberland Foreside has joined the board of directors of the Consumers for Affordable Health Care foundation.
 
At a recent meeting of the Portland Water District Board of Trustees, William M. Lunt, III, of Falmouth, was elected president, and John W. Emerson of Gorham was elected vice president.

The Greater Portland Convention & Visitors Bureau, a nonprofit run by a board of 30 members,  appointed 10 new board members, including Andrew Smaha, Southern Maine Community College; Caroline Paras, Greater Portland Council of Governments; Charlie Katz-Leavy,  Verrill Dana, LLP; Craig Gorris, The Maine Mall; David Tamulevich, Portland Regency Hotel & Spa; Jason Briggs, VIP Tour & Charter Bus Co.; Judy Judkins, Residence Inn by Marriott Portland; Michelle Lester, Maine Today Media, Inc.; Pat Eltman, Maine Office of Tourism; and Patricia Quinn, NNEPRA Amtrak Downeaster.

Perkins

McQuaid

Pratt

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The VTec Learning Center of South Portland recently won the Dr. Noel Paradise Memorial Swish-Out Childhood Cancer Challenge for the fourth time. The event raised more than $23,200 for the Maine Children’s Cancer Program. Presenting the first-place plaque to the winning team is tournament founder, Jon Paradise of the Maine Credit Union League, which coordinates the event. Pictured front row, from left, are Derek Lovely, Jon Paradise, Nicholas Sanfino, and Scott Sanfino, and back row, from left, are Matt Clement, Stacey Kent and Tiffany Jones.

Richard Beaulieu, pictured right, president of Springer’s Jewelers, presents Captain Terry Shaffer a check for $3,650 for the Portland Chapter of the Salvation Army. The donation was from a Springer’s Jewelers benefit event that raised over $9,000 for the Salvation Army. The remaining amount was shared with the Bath Salvation Army chapter and the Portsmouth, N.H. chapter. The money was raised through a portion of sales from Springer’s annual Let It Snow Holiday Shopping Spree.