Topsham man honored with Sarah Whitten Community Award at TPL

Dana Cary was awarded the Sarah Whitten Community Award at the Topsham Public Library on Feb. 3. Whitten Society members and special guests gathered to honor Cary as the third recipient of the award, given by the Topsham Public Library Board of Trustees to recognize outstanding service to the library and the community. Cary is a lifelong Topsham resident and his family history in Topsham dates back to the 1830s. Cary has been a member of community boards, committees and service organizations in the greater Topsham/Brunswick area for many years. He is a longtime volunteer, 16 years and counting, for the Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program and treasurer for The Gathering Place. He is also an active environmentalist and treasurer for Brunswick Topsham Land Trust. He is the co-founder of the Topsham Historical Society. As a member of the library’s volunteer gardeners, Cary has spent hours working on the songbird/butterfly garden as well as assisting with larger projects, including supervising Bowdoin College Common Good Day volunteers in removing invasive species and trimming trees. As one trustee noted, “If anyone is in need, you will find Dana Cary there.”

The Whitten Society and the Sarah Whitten Community Award are named after Sarah Whitten, who bequeathed her house on Pleasant Street to the town of Topsham to be used as its public library. Cary exemplifies the spirit of the Sarah Whitten Community Award, and was the unanimous choice of the library Board of Trustees. Like Whitten, Cary shares a devotion and dedication to the Town of Topsham and Topsham Public Library.

Portland real estate company expands, adds agents

Benchmark Residential & Investment Real Estate has expanded office locations and doubles size. “The latest numbers show that statewide sales are up 11 percent, with the market in greater Portland very hot. We have hand-selected a cadre of experienced professionals with a deep commitment to our approach, and with an intimate knowledge of the market,” said firm founder and designated broker, Tom Landry. 

The firm also added a primary location in Portland’s West End at Andrews Square, 72 Pine St., and increased capacity at its Old Port location in the Baxter Place Building at 305 Commercial St. The original location on Munjoy Hill in the heart of the East End, at 100 Congress, rounds out Benchmark’s local presence. The following new agents are among the nine recently hired: Bonnie Tolzmann, of Portland’s West End; Tony Holt, of Portland; Danielle Smith Bruce, of Portland’s Rosemont neighborhood; Derek Gordon, of Portland’s Parkside neighborhood; Teresa Medved, of Portland’s East End; Ezra Provost, also of Portland’s West End; and Connie Zhu, of Portland.

New Ventures

Members of the public are invited to an open house from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 4 to learn more about the new independent living apartments, as well as existing independent and assisted living options, at The Park Danforth, 777 Stevens Ave., Portland. Tours will be available on the half hour.

Attorneys Daniel Stevens and Avery Day are proud to announce their partnership in a new Augusta law firm, Stevens & Day. The business officially opened its doors on Jan. 1, taking the place of the Law Offices of Daniel J. Stevens, the boutique practice founded by Stevens in 2015. Day, who lives in Yarmouth with his wife and two children, most recently served as Chief Legal Counsel to Gov. Paul LePage and as Acting Commissioner of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. Day has also served U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, as a legislative assistant in Washington, D.C., leaving that role to attend Harvard Law School, where he earned his J.D. in 2009.

Advertisement

Granted

Casco Bay Estuary Partnership has announced the 2017 Casco Bay Community Grants awards. Six awards were made, for a total of $10,000, for projects in Brunswick, Chebeague Island, Harpswell, Phippsburg, and Portland.

At Brunswick Junior High School through Connect Casco Bay, the seventh-grade Jewell Island Team will engage in a four-week community-based, expeditionary learning unit to help students understand the fragility of Casco Bay and their duty to care for it.

At the Chebeague Island Aquaculture Festival, Chebeague Island Community Association will educate community members about aquaculture farms and the importance of water quality to them.

Friends School of Portland will conduct Inter-generational Investigation of the Casco Bay Watershed, when students will learn about and test water quality, and interview seniors about their connection to Casco Bay.

Harpswell Heritage Land Trust will sponsor Engaging Youth with a Junior Ranger Program, an initiative to engage local youth and families with Harpswell’s coastal environment. 

Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association will screen “Climate Change through the Eyes of Shellfish Harvesters,” a video that explores how environmental changes have impacted the Harpswell shellfishing industry.

Advertisement

The Maine Arts Commission announced local winners of $5,000 merit-based awards: Elisabeth Tova Bailey, of Mid-Coast, in Literary Arts for “The Sound of A Wild Snail Eating,” which recounts her year-long observations of a wild Maine woodland snail; and Sara Juli of Portland, for Performing Arts. This year’s apprenticeship winners include apprentice Tim Ebersold and master Christian Stevens of Freeport, who are studying anglo concertina in traditional Irish style.

Recognition

Portland-based Winxnet recently competed in the first annual HTG Peer Groups Shark Tank competition, taking home the grand prize of $25,000 to put towards their marketing and customer appreciation efforts in 2017. HTG put the call out in January to their IT service provider members to share their marketing and implementation plans, and over 30 companies responded for a chance to fill one of the eight finalist spaces. HTG Peer Groups is an international community of experienced Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and IT industry vendors focused on business and personal growth within their industries. “It was such a thrill to even be selected as a finalist for this great competition and be amongst so many leaders in our industry,” said Liz Riley, vice president of sales and marketing. 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, with its associated website CMS.gov, has awarded Holbrook at Piper Shores the distinguished 5-star quality rating, placing it in the top 10 percent of nursing homes nationwide. The news arrives as Holbrook advances toward the planned summer 2017 opening of its new assisted living and memory care in Scarborough, which will provide increased residential opportunities for seniors.

Hires, promotions, appointments

Maine Medical Center has appointed Joel Botler, M.D., to serve as senior vice president and chief medical officer. Botler had previously held the two roles on an interim basis since January 2016 while a search was conducted.

Gorrill Palmer in South Portland welcomed Lucas Anthony to the team as Land Development Project Manager. Lucas has twenty years of engineering and project management experience for private clients, including design of utility infrastructure, roadway, parking and stormwater elements for large scale retail projects.

Preti Flaherty announced that Stephan G. Bachelder will be practicing in the Portland office in the areas of executive compensation, tax and business transactions.

Dr. Jamy Borbidge, an optometrist working at Eyes on Rosemont with significant low vision clinical experience at the Veterans Administration, has joined The Iris Network Low Vision Clinic in Portland.

Whitten Society members and special guests gathered to honor Dana Cary, shown here with his daughter, Alison, as the third recipient of the Sarah Whitten Community Award, given by the Topsham Public Library Board of Trustees.AnthonyBotler


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.