Recognition

The deadline to nominate local businesses for the the 9th annual Indie Biz Award is Aug. 11. The event this year will be Oct. 6 at the House of Music and Events, where Portland’s  independent businesses and community organizations will be celebrated with live music, a silent and live auction, and local food and brews. Categories include: Portland Icon; Best New Business; Creative Crusader; Environmental Hero; Portland’s Best Kept Secret; Flavor of Portland; Out of Sight, Not out of Mind; Better Together; Business to Business and; Made in Portland.

Indie Biz Awards are presented by Portland Buy Local, but nominees do not need to be members of the organization. To nominate a business, visit bit.ly/2aH0YP7.

Brunswick Sewer Department has earned the Safety and Health Award for Public Employers in recognition of their rigorous safety achievement program.

SHAPE recognizes public-sector organizations that voluntarily undertake a rigorous safety achievement program for their workers. The SHAPE award was conceived in 2005 as a way to recognize public-sector employers and employees who are striving to provide a safe and healthful workplace. It is given only to exemplary public-sector employers after a thorough review and inspection of the employer’s safety and health policies and procedures by a SafetyWorks! consultant.

Shawn & Marcy Cox, owners of SERVPRO of Bath/Brunswick, were recognized for outstanding revenue performance during an awards ceremony at the 47th annual SERVPRO Convention at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas from June 26-30.

Hires, promotions, appointments

Bernstein Shur has welcomed Alysia Melnick, former legal counsel and senior policy adviser to the speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, to its Legislative and Political Law Practice Group. Melnick is perhaps most well-known for her public policy work at the ACLU of Maine, where she helped to reduce the use of solitary confinement in Maine’s prison system and aided in drafting and passing legislation legalizing same-sex marriage in Maine. Her practice will focus on campaign strategy and compliance, as well as policy advising and lobbying in conjunction with the firm’s public affairs and political consulting subsidiary, The Bernstein Shur Group.

RE/MAX Shoreline announced that George Turner has joined the Portland office.  A longtime resident of Cumberland, he has served on the Cumberland Town Council for over a decade, and he is currently chairman.

Malone Commercial Brokers of Portland announced that Lucille Holt-Sottery has joined the firm as vice president of operations and business development.

Misti Munster has been promoted to counsel from the Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Group at Verrill Dana.

The Maine Community Foundation has appointed Jennifer I. Richard of Cumberland Foreside as director of gift planning. Richard will be based in the Portland office, which will move to 50 Monument Square in late August.

News from nonprofits

Two Portland area business leaders have been elected to the University of Maine Alumni Association board of directors. John M. Ferland, of Cumberland, earned his degree from the University of Maine in 1976. He is vice president of project development at Ocean Renewable Power Co. of Portland and president of its subsidiary, ORPC Solutions. Steven W. Hewins of South Portland, a 1977 alumnus, is a business consultant and former travel industry executive. As members of the 20-person board, Ferland and Hewins oversee policy and administrative compliance for the Orono-based not-for-profit organization.

Northeast Hearing & Speech, a nonprofit committed to “Helping People to Hear, Speak & Communicate,” has received a $3,000 donation from the Bangor Savings Bank Foundation for a program to provide audiological exams for infants and young children.

Easter Seals Maine received a check in the amount of $5,000 from the Governor’s Contingency Fund to be used in support of Easter Seals Maine’s Military and Veterans Services.

Granted

MaineHealth in Portland has been selected to receive a grant for $398,692 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture as one of 81 Distance Learning and Telemedicine projects in 32 states. These projects will help connect rural communities with medical and educational experts in other parts of the country, increasing access to health care, substance misuse treatment and advanced educational opportunities. The Rural Development funds will be used to install telehealth videoconferencing carts at six medical clinics in rural Maine. Three more telehealth videoconferencing carts will be provided to three home health agency sites to provide a connection between patients and specialists at three major hospitals in Maine.

The People’s United Community Foundation, the philanthropic arm of People’s United Bank, has awarded $2,500 to United Cerebral Palsy of Northern Maine. The funding will support an expansion of the Bridges Program, an early childhood education program for preschoolers who require individual support.

A recent donation of $5,000 from P&C Insurance and Saco & Biddeford Savings Institution has funded the purchase of 72 slider sheets for Gosnell Memorial Hospice House in Scarborough.

Giving Back

Through October, customers will be asked to donate a dollar when ordering at Subway Sandwich Shops in Maine. Last year, Subway raised more than $50,000 in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont to support Easter Seals Military and Veterans Programs.

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