ME Innkeepers launch
hospitality program

FREEPORT — The Maine Innkeepers Association has recently launched its sixth annual Hospitality for Habitat Program. The program is designed to raise funds for local chapters of Habitat for Humanity by encouraging travel in Maine during spring.

Participating members of The Maine Innkeepers Association are offering a 50% discount on room rates between May 1-22 in exchange for a tax deductible check for $35 to Habitat for Humanity.

Local participating businesses include Inn by the Sea, Cape Elizabeth; Chebeague Orchard Inn, Chebeague Island; Best Western Freeport Inn, Captain Briggs House B&B, Harraseeket Inn, Hilton Garden Inn Downtown, Freeport; Best Western Merry Manor Inn, Comfort Inn, South Portland; Black Lantern B&B, Topsham.

Other listings and more information can be found at maineinns.com

Basketball tournament
raises $25K for cancer

GORHAM — The 15th Annual Dr. Noel Paradise Memorial Swish-Out Childhood Cancer Challenge, hosted by the Maine Credit Union League, raised $25,172 for the Maine Children’s Cancer Program.

Thirty-two teams participated in the benefit basketball tournament held at USM in Gorham.

V-Tec Learning Center of South Portland won the championship game for the third straight year.

Putney, Inc. sponsors
college program

PORTLAND — Putney, Inc., a Portland-based veterinary pharmaceutical company, has partnered with the Babson Consulting Alliance Program to provide entrepreneurial management skills for students in the master’s of business administration program at Babson College in Massachussetts.

Six students will spend one year learning about the veterinary pharmaceutical industry and developing a businesss implementation strategy.

At the end of the program, students will present their recommendations on Putney’s sales and marketing strategy to the company’s senior management.  

New Hires/Promotions

Portland’s Regional Transportation Program, Inc. has hired Sara Trafton of Topsham as executive director. 

Kim Brown of Cumberland has rejoined First Financial Mortgage in Portland as a senior loan officer. 

PolicyOne Research, a Scarborough-based research and analysis company specializing in economic and community development, has named Nancy Forrester as a principal and Bruce Hensler as a senior policy analyst.

Paul Brown of Cape Elizabeth has joined the Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Office in Cape Elizabeth as a licensed real estate agent. 

Brenda L. Kielty, Esq. of Freeport, was admitted to the Maine Bar and will be focusing her practice on child protection and school law. 

Living Wealth Partners has hired Gene Waters of Cumberland as a financial professional for its Portland office. 

Hobbs Funeral Home, with facilities in South Portland and Scarborough, has hired Timothy E. Chalmers of Portland as a licensed funeral director. 

Portland-based engineering firm W.H. Demmons has promoted Michael J. O’Brien of Saco to sales manager; hired Paule Goode of South Portland as the as the HVAC sales engineer and Dan Campbell of Auburn as the roofing sales engineer. 

Awards

Susan Steele, director of Safe and Drug Free Schools for the Portland Public Schools, received the Future Business Leaders of America’s Business Person of the Year award at a recent state leadership conference.

Cindy Olsen of Portland, buyer’s agent for the Hatcher Group at Keller Williams Realty, earned the Top Buyer’s Agent Award for 2008 in the Keller Williams Realty Greater Portland Market. 

Verrill Dana attorneys Mark Googins of Cumberland Foreside was named Best Maine Banking Lawyer of the Year, and Charles Oestreicher of Freeport was named Best Maine Real Estate Lawyer of the Year in the 2009 publication of “Best Lawyers.” 

South Portland-based Higgins Corporation, a distributor of security solutions and Salamander Technologies dealer, received Most Improved Dealer award and employee Kathleen Agid was awarded Reseller Salesperson of the Year at Salamander’s annual meeting. 

The David Banks Team with RE/MAX By The Bay in Portland earned the rank of 76 in the Top 100 Agents in the United States by RE/MAX International based on their annual sales volume. 

Valerie J. Fuller of Falmouth, nurse practitioner in the department of surgery at Maine Medical Center, was awarded her doctorate of nursing in the inaugural class of the Doctor of Nursing Practice program at MGH Institute of Health Professions in Boston. 

Good Deeds

The Morrison Developmental Center of Portland and Scarborough has received a $100,000 donation from TD Banknorth, through the TD Banknorth Charitable Foundation, for funding the construction of a new facility in Scarborough. 

The Maine Center for Enterprise Development at USM received a $5,000 donation from KeyBank in support of its Campus Ventures Program, which provides assistance to student and faculty created start-up ventures.

Portland-based nonprofit Boys to Men was awarded a $25,000 capacity-building grant from National Fatherhood Initiative through the National Responsible Fatherhood Capacity Building Initiative. 

The Institute for Financial Literacy in Portland received a $2,000 grant from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation to support the Maine Teachers Take FLITE program promoting financial literacy education in grades K-12. 

A Company of Girls, a Portland-based after-school theater and arts program for low-income, at-risk girls, has recently received more than $25,000 in funding from several foundations to support the current program year. 

“WOW Players,” a new drama group of the Scarborough Community Services Senior WOW program, held a recent performance at the Hillcrest Recreation Center. Pictured from left to right are WOW Players, Jane Everett, Ellen Bridgham, Charlene Gerrish, Sharon Theofrastou and Rita Ballou.
Chalmers
Fulller
Kielty
Brown