Recognition

Jean Lee, a cafeteria worker at Falmouth Elementary School, received an ecomaine eco-Excellence Award March 23 for setting up a food rescue program that has diverted food waste while feeding those in need. 

“She sits in a vital front-line position, where she has been able to influence children to improve the quality of their choices to address the larger hunger needs of the community,” said ecomaine CEO Kevin Roche, “while reducing the amount of waste in Falmouth’s waste stream.”

Lee has diverted uneaten and unopened food from the trash bin to the Falmouth Food Pantry. As a cafeteria worker in the school, she has significantly increased the amount of composting and recycling in the cafeteria.

Scarborough High School’s Environmental Club, ECOS, and Portland’s East Brown Cow Management captured the 2016 awards for overall excellence at this year’s eco-Excellence Awards. The ECOS Club is a group of 25 students led by Staff Advisor Terri Eddy and five Student Officers, Stephen Blackie, Sarah Mulligan, Alyssa Doherty and Brandon Fleming. Every week, ECOS club members split into five recycling teams, going room-to-room through the high school collecting bottles, cans and paper materials. The five teams reconvene to collectively empty, sort and bag the materials. East Brown Cow Management, Inc., the top winner in the Business Category, manages commercial properties in Portland and other southern Maine communities. Through their business practices, they have demonstrated strong leadership in energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy.

The Bicycle Coalition of Maine recently presented local champions of better biking and walking with awards in recognition of their efforts to make Maine better for those traveling on bike or foot. The Just Do It Award winners are Sagadahoc County Sheriff Joel Merry and Bath Police Chief Mike Field, who exhibited leadership in public service by focusing on the biking and walking community. The Volunteer of the Year Award was presented to Leonard Howard of Portland, who has contributed extraordinary time, effort and energy to the Coalition. The Businesses for Better Bicycling Award is presented to a Maine business that encourages and supports bicycling within their business and community. This year’s winner is Maine Beer Company of Freeport.

Cumberland County 9-1-1 Supervisor Melinda Dyer was  selected as the 2015 Communications Officer of the Year by the Maine Sheriff’s Association March 24. “The nomination was the result of Melinda’s assistance to the Criminal Investigations Division recently in diligently researching the NICS system, which resulted in getting an individual who had severe mental health issues listed into the NICS system during a long holiday weekend,” Sheriff Kevin Joyce said.

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Winxnet, an IT outsourcing and consulting firm headquartered in Portland, was recently named to The Channel Company’s CRN 2016 Tech Elite 250, which honors North American IT solution providers that have earned the highest number of advanced technical certifications from leading technology vendors.

Hires, promotions, appointments

Debra Bennett has been appointed as executive director of CHANS Home Health Care. In this new role she will oversee the agency, management team, and collaboration of CHANS as part of Mid Coast–Parkview Health. Bennett joined CHANS Home Health Care in 1998 as rehabilitation manager, and then moved to project manager and senior director of operations.

Ruth Martin, of Falmouth, has joined Androscoggin Bank as an assistant vice president, and is now the manager of the bank’s Portland and Gray branches.

Giving Back

Hannaford will donate $2 to a local charity for every Hannaford Helps bag and contribute the equivalent of two nutritious meals for each Fight Hunger bag purchased in April. Causes benefiting from the Hannaford bag program in Maine include organizations as diverse as the Good Shepherd Food Bank, youth sports, disability-support agencies, community centers, youth organizations and cultural programs.

The South Portland Food Cupboard recognizes Macy’s employees who raised money throughout March as part of their annual “Bag Hunger” campaign. Pictured are Macy’s employees, along with Sybil Riemensnider, director of the South Portland Food Cupboard, making bagged lunches to sell.

BennettMartin


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