LOVELL – The Professional Logging Contractors (PLC) of Maine held its first-ever Log A Load for Maine Kids Southern Maine Golf Tournament Friday, Sept. 6 in Lovell, raising $25,236 for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals in Maine.
This year the PLC is holding two Log A Load golf tournaments, with the new Sept. 6 tournament at the Kezar Lake Country Club in Lovell, Maine in addition to the annual northern Maine Log A load golf tournament Sept. 20 at JATO Highlands Golf Course in Lincoln, Maine.
The new tournament has been added as the PLC seeks to expand its annual fund-raising efforts on behalf of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals in Maine, and has partnered with the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center in Portland in that effort. The PLC is grateful that 3-year-old Jacob, who is in remission after 18 months of treatment for stage 4 neuroblastoma at the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital, was on hand for the event selling lemonade to golfers.
“The generosity of the PLC’s members, friends, and supporters is more inspiring each year, and with the new tournament we are expanding participation and the positive impact we can have for Maine families in need,” PLC Executive Director Dana Doran said. “This group always comes through for these families and continues to devote an incredible amount of time, effort, and resources to the Log A Load cause.”
Last year the PLC raised a total of $122,500 for Log-A-Load, with the bulk of funds coming from the annual golf tournament and PLC Annual Meeting. This year, the PLC raised a record $51,866 at its Annual Meeting and funds raised there will be disbursed equally to the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center in Portland and Northern Light, Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor.
The PLC and the Northern Light Health Foundation (formerly Eastern Maine Health Systems Foundation) have partnered in the Log A Load fund-raising effort since 1996. Donations have gone to support research and training, purchase equipment, and pay for uncompensated care, all in support of the mission to save and improve the lives of as many children in Maine as possible. Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor is a Children’s Miracle Network Hospital and includes a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit that has received support for years from the PLC’s Log A Load efforts.
The South Carolina Forestry Association started the Log A Load for Kids program in 1988. Originally, the concept was for loggers, wood-supplying businesses, and other industry supporters in various states including Maine to donate the value of a load of logs to their local Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.
Nationally, Log A Load for Kids is a leader in CMN Hospitals’ fundraising, raising more than $2 million annually through golf tournaments, fishing events, dinners, truckloads of log donations and other events.
For more information, please visit www.logaload.org.