Blog - Local / Community News Items and Commentary

This has been a very unique year and because of that we want to honor it with a very unique awards reception on May 13; but L-I-T-E-R-A-L-L-Y we cannot do it without you, and here’s why.

We want to honor those individuals, organizations, businesses and colleagues that helped you get through the only pandemic most of  us has ever experienced, but to do so we need to hear your stories so we can share them.

Each of us could take five minutes and think of probably a dozen individuals that helped you personally since the pandemic began in February/March 2020. 

Who is your Covid Hero?  
   

SMMC is Hiring for a Chamber Coordinator for 20 Hours Per Week, to Start

The Southern Midcoast Maine Chamber (SMMC) is looking to add an energetic, enthusiastic and
organized staff member to our team to help our business owners and their employees thrive in the Brunswick, Bath, Topsham, Harpswell region.  

The ideal candidate will be a problem solver who can adapt to working on multiple projects each week.  There is a tremendous opportunity for the right candidate to help shape how this growing organization will evolve, and they will be a key part in creating the best practices to make this organization continue its upward
trajectory.  

In short, we are looking for a builder.  Someone who can help us realize our goals, and who can help create new ones through their vision and creativity.  

Harpswell Coastal Academy Preserves Voices of the Pandemic

HCA: A School for Social Change, Entrepreneurship and the Environment

Brunswick, Maine — As Maine strives to plug the brain drain and entice graduates to remain in the Pine State, Harpswell Coastal Academy (HCA) has been anchoring students to their community since its founding. A year-long humanities class that launched in 2014 has been dedicated to that mission with an oral history project that captures the extraordinary stories of “ordinary” locals. 

This year’s theme, “Voices of the Pandemic,” builds on an ethnographic tradition that has spanned conservation advocates to seaweed harvesters. During 2020–21, students tackled how the Covid-19 crisis has impacted the livelihoods and well-being of locals, including a teacher, commercial fisherman, general store owner, and a nurse. Learning how people have weathered the pandemic—by changing course and aiding others in crisis—fits HCA’s curriculum of entrepreneurism and social change. 

From a Maine State Chamber E-mail Alert on March 12, 2021

Supplemental Budget Bill Finally Passes House and Senate with Full Conformity on PPP Loans, Study on FDII

Vote secures $100 million for 28,000 businesses across state

Late Thursday night, the Supplemental Budget bill was finally passed, and is now on Governor Mills’ desk.

In votes of 139-1 in the Maine House of Representatives, and by unanimous vote in the Maine State Senate, lawmakers agreed to full conformity at $100 million on the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans taken as a result of the pandemic by tens of thousands of Maine businesses from around the state.  On behalf of the Chamber’s members, we would like to thank the Administration, Democrats, and Republicans for their bipartisan work to secure this outcome.

Passage of the supplemental budget bill on an emergency basis is extremely important to the 28,000 businesses across the state that have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic

Noted Skater Jud Heald Brings It to the Skatepark at MYC 

Skater to Visit Bath for New Build March 2-5 

ALSO: Arts Programs Kicks Into Gear: Gardening, Video Editing, Music-Making 

Midcoast Youth Center and Springer’s Jewelers Presents

 “A Love Song Scramble” Fundraiser

Springer’s Generously Supports Our Midcoast Youth

BATH—Midcoast Youth Center is excited to announce a contest and fundraiser sure to brighten these winter days.

Springer’s Jewelers in Bath is making a very generous donation — a “Hearts of Fire” necklace valued at $2500 — as the prize. Participants making a $25 donation to Midcoast Youth Center are automatically entered to win this beautiful piece of jewelry. Each registrant then receives a link to unscramble the titles of 25 well-known love songs. Fans of word games — unite!

Mid Coast Hospital Administers First Doses of COVID-19 Vaccine to Front-Line Caregivers

Brunswick, Maine – Mid Coast Hospital administered the first vaccinations for COVID-19 to its front-line caregivers today. At 7:30 a.m. Paul LaPrad, MD, became the first care team member at Mid Coast Hospital to receive the vaccine. LaPrad has been a pulmonologist in the community for 25 years, and has been caring for COVID-19 patients at Mid Coast Hospital since March.

This week marks the 19th Anniversary of Amtrak Downeaster service between Portland, Maine and Boston, Massachusetts. Since December 15, 2001, more than 65,000 Downeaster trains have operated, transporting more than 7.62 million passengers the equivalent of nearly 658 million passenger miles.  The Downeaster transports a diverse cross-section of riders who travel for a variety of purposes including commuter, college students, senior citizens, school kids on educational trips, sports fans, beach goers and tourists and more.

Bar Harbor Bank & Trust Opens New Branch in Brunswick, Maine

Brunswick, Maine – Bar Harbor Bank & Trust was joined today by officials from the Town of Brunswick and Southern Midcoast Maine Chamber for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the grand opening of the Bank’s new branch located at 148 Bath Road in Brunswick, Maine.

Mid Coast Senior Health Named Best Nursing Home

Brunswick, ME – Mid Coast Senior Health has been recognized as a Best Nursing Home for 2020-21 by U.S. News & World Report. Only 21% of U.S. skilled nursing facilities have achieved this designation.

Part of Mid Coast–Parkview Health, Mid Coast Senior Health earned Best Nursing Homes status by achieving a rating of “High Performing,” the highest possible rating, for its Long-Term Care at Mere Point and Rehabilitation at Bodwell communities. U.S. News gives the designation of Best Nursing Home only to those homes that satisfy U.S. News’s assessment of the appropriate use of key services and consistent performance in quality measures.